BILL NUMBER: SB 47	CHAPTERED  05/26/99

	CHAPTER   23
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   MAY 26, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   MAY 26, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   MAY 20, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   MAY 17, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 10, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 22, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 5, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 18, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 9, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   MARCH 4, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Sher
   (Principal coauthor:  Assembly Member Wayne)

                        DECEMBER 7, 1998

   An act to repeal and add Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section
25300) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
hazardous substances, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring
the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 47, Sher.  Hazardous substance account:  extension.
   (1) Under prior law, the Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous
Substance Account Act, which was repealed on January 1, 1999, with
certain exceptions, imposed liability for hazardous substance removal
or remedial actions and required the Department of Toxic Substances
Control to adopt, by regulation, criteria for the selection and for
the priority ranking of hazardous substance release sites for removal
or remedial action under the act.  The act required the department
or, if appropriate, a California regional water quality control
board, to prepare or approve remedial action plans for each listed
site and provided for an arbitration process for the apportionment of
liability for removal or remedial actions.  The act authorized the
department to expend the funds in the Toxic Substances Control
Account in the General Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to pay for, among other things, removal and remedial actions related
to the release of hazardous substances.  However, certain provisions
of the act, including the Johnston-Filante Hazardous Substance
Cleanup Bond Act of 1984 and related provisions, will not be repealed
until the date when the bonds issued and sold pursuant to the bond
act have been paid and the General Fund reimbursed.
   Among other things, the act annually appropriated $5,000,000 from
the Hazardous Substance Clearing Account to pay the principal of, and
interest on, bonds issued and sold pursuant to the bond act and
continuously appropriated $1,000,000 from the Toxic Substances
Control Account to the department as a reserve account for
emergencies.  The act also continuously appropriated certain funds
deposited in a subaccount for removal and remedial actions at a
specific site and funds in a subaccount established by the Controller
for site operation and maintenance.  The act authorized a person to
apply to the State Board of Control for compensation of a loss caused
by the release of a hazardous substance, and provided that any
person who knowingly gives, or causes to be given, any false
information as a part of a claim for compensation is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
   This bill would repeal, reenact, and revise the act, thereby
extending the effect of the act indefinitely.  This bill would revise
the term "operation and maintenance" and would define the terms
"response," "respond," "response action," and "site."
   The bill would direct the department or California regional water
quality board to require a responsible party who is required to
comply with operation and maintenance requirements to demonstrate and
maintain financial assurance, in a specified manner, except as
specified.  The bill would require the remedial action plan to
evaluate each alternative remedial action considered and rejected by
the department or a regional board and to include specified
information regarding those alternatives.  The bill would require the
department to issue orders for removal or remedial actions to the
largest manageable number of potentially responsible parties, after
considering specified factors, and would exempt certain
determinations made by the department, when issuing those orders,
from judicial review.  The bill would require that any response
action taken or approved pursuant to the act be based upon, and be no
less stringent than, specified federal regulations and state
statutes, regulations, and policies, and would require a health or
ecological risk assessment prepared in conjunction with such a
response action to meet specified criteria and include specified
assumptions.
   The bill would require the department and the regional board to
provide specified information to the affected community and to
develop a public participation work plan, and would provide for the
establishment of community advisory groups under specified
conditions.  The bill would authorize a community advisory group to
request a technical assistance grant for a site.  The department and
the State Water Resources Control Board would be required to create 2
community service offices, by July 1, 2000, to perform specified
duties.
   The bill would require the Attorney General, at the request of the
department, to recover, pursuant to state or federal law, any costs
incurred by the department or regional board in carrying out the act.
  The bill would exempt certain owners of property from liability for
groundwater releases, except as specified.
   The bill would require the department to propose a final
administrative or judicial expedited settlement with potentially
responsible parties who have contributed a minimal amount of
hazardous substances to a site.
   The bill would establish the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund
in the State Treasury and would authorize the administrator of the
fund to expend the money in that fund, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, for specified purposes, including the reimbursement of
the orphan share of a site, as defined.  The bill would provide that
the provisions establishing the fund and the related provisions would
not become operative until the operative date of a statute that
becomes operative on or after January 1, 2000, creates a position in
state government known as the Administrator of the Orphan Share
Reimbursement Trust Fund to be appointed by the Governor and subject
to confirmation by the Senate, and either appropriates funds to
implement those provisions or establishes a revenue source for the
fund, or both.  The bill would provide for the suspension of the
operation of those provisions under specified conditions.
   The bill would make an appropriation by reenacting the continuous
appropriations specified above.  The bill, by reenacting the act,
would also extend that misdemeanor provision, thereby imposing a
state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
   The bill would provide that any action taken pursuant to the
former act by the department, a California regional water quality
control board, or any other state or local agency, would remain in
effect on and after January 1, 1999, and be subject to the act, as
reenacted by this bill.  The bill would provide that it does not
terminate, affect, or modify any proceeding, order, or agreement
issued or entered into by the department, the regional board, by any
other state or local agency pursuant to the former act or any rights
or obligations arising out of a bond issue and that the reenacted act
would apply retroactively, on and after January 1, 1999, to those
proceedings, orders, agreements, or bonds.
   The bill would require that funds expended by the department to
pay the costs of carrying out actions to remove hazardous substances
from sites of illegal drug laboratories during the period from
January 1, 1999, until the effective date of the bill, to be paid
from a specified appropriation made in the Budget Act of 1998, and
would provide for the transfer of a specified amount of funds
expended by the department from that appropriation.
  (2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state.  Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   (3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
   Appropriation:  yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division
20 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed.
  SEC. 2.  Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) is added to
Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

      CHAPTER 6.8.  HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCE ACCOUNT
      Article 1.  Short Title and Legislative Intent

   25300.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
Carpenter-Presley-Tanner Hazardous Substance Account Act.
   25301.  It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:
   (a) Establish a program to provide for response authority for
releases of hazardous substances, including spills and hazardous
waste disposal sites that pose a threat to the public health or the
environment.
   (b) Compensate persons, under certain circumstances, for
out-of-pocket medical expenses and lost wages or business income
resulting from injuries proximately caused by exposure to releases of
hazardous substances.
   (c) Make available adequate funds in order to permit the State of
California to assure payment of its 10-percent share of the costs
mandated pursuant to Section 104(c)(3) of the federal act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 9604(c)(3)).

      Article 2.  Definitions

   25310.  The definitions set forth in this article shall govern the
interpretation of this chapter.  Unless the context requires
otherwise and except as provided in this article, the definitions
contained in Section 101 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601)
shall apply to the terms used in this chapter.
   25311.  "Contract competitor" means any person competing for a
state contract pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 25358.3.
   25312.  "Department" means the Department of Toxic Substances
Control.
   25313.  "Director" means the Director of Toxic Substances Control.

   25314.  "Feasibility study" means the identification and
evaluation of technically feasible and effective remedial action
alternatives to protect public health and the environment, at a
hazardous substance release site, or other activities deemed
necessary by the department for the development of a remedial action
plan.
   25315.  "Federal act" means the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (42
U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.).
   25316.  "Hazardous substance" means:
   (a) Any substance designated pursuant to Section 1321(b)(2)(A) of
Title 33 of the United States Code.
   (b) Any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance
designated pursuant to Section 102 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec.
9602).
   (c) Any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified
under or listed  pursuant to Section 6921 of Title 42 of the United
States Code, but not including any waste the regulation of which
under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 6901 et seq.) has
been suspended by act of Congress.
   (d) Any toxic pollutant listed under Section 1317(a) of Title 33
of the United States Code.
   (e) Any hazardous air pollutant listed under Section 7412 of Title
42 of the United States Code.
   (f) Any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with
respect to which the Administrator of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency has taken action pursuant to Section 2606 of Title
15 of the United States Code.
   (g) Any hazardous waste or extremely hazardous waste as defined by
Sections 25117 and 25115, respectively, unless expressly excluded.

   25317.  "Hazardous substance" does not include:
   (a) Petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which
is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous
substance in subdivisions (a) to (f), inclusive, of Section 25316,
and natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, or
synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and such
synthetic gas), or the ash produced by a resource recovery facility
utilizing a municipal solid waste stream.
   (b) Nontoxic, nonflammable, noncorrosive stormwater runoff drained
from underground vaults, chambers, or manholes into gutters or storm
sewers.
   25318.5.  "Operation and maintenance" means those  activities
initiated or continued at a hazardous substance release site
following completion of a removal or remedial action that are deemed
necessary by the department or regional board in order to protect
public health or safety or the environment, to maintain the
effectiveness of the removal or remedial action at the site, or to
achieve or maintain the removal or remedial action standards and
objectives established by the final remedial action plan or final
removal action work plan applicable to the site.
   25319.  "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, business concern, corporation, including, but not limited
to, a government corporation, partnership, limited liability company,
and association.  "Person" also includes any city, county, city and
county, district, commission, the state or any department, agency, or
political subdivision thereof, any interstate body, and the United
States and its agencies and instrumentalities, to the extent
permitted by law.
   25319.5.  "Preliminary endangerment assessment" means an activity
that is performed to determine whether current or past waste
management practices have resulted in the release or threatened
release of hazardous substances that pose a threat to public health
or the environment.
   25319.6.  "Regional board" means a California regional water
quality control board.
   25320.  "Release" means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring,
emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching,
dumping, or disposing into the environment.
   25321.  "Release" does not include any of the following:
   (a) Any release that results in exposure to persons solely within
a workplace, with respect to a claim those exposed persons may assert
against their employer.
   (b) Emissions from the engine exhaust of a motor vehicle, rolling
stock, aircraft, vessel, or pipeline pumping station engine.
   (c) Release of source, byproduct, or special nuclear material from
a nuclear incident, as those terms are defined in the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 2011, et seq.), if such release is
subject to requirements with respect to financial protection
established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Section 2210
of Title 42 of the United States Code or, for the purposes of Section
104 of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604) or any other response
action, any release of source byproduct, or special nuclear material
from any processing site designated under Section 7912(a)(1) or 7942
(a) of Title 42 of the United States Code, which sections are a part
of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.
   (d) The normal application of fertilizer, plant growth regulants,
and pesticides.
   25322.  "Remedy" or "remedial action" includes all of the
following:
   (a) Those actions that are consistent with a permanent remedy,
that are taken instead of, or in addition to, removal actions in the
event of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance
into the environment, as further defined by Section 101(24) of the
federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601(24)), except that any reference in
Section 101(24) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec.  9601(24)) to the
President, relating to determinations regarding the relocation of
residents, businesses, and community facilities shall, for the
purposes of this chapter, be deemed to be a reference to the Governor
and any other reference in that section to the President shall, for
the purposes of this chapter, be deemed a reference to the Governor,
or the director, if designated by the Governor.
   (b) Those actions that are necessary to monitor, assess, and
evaluate a release or a threatened release of a hazardous substance.

   (c) Site operation and maintenance.
   25322.1.  "Remedial design" means the detailed engineering plan to
implement the remedial action alternative or initial remedial
measure approved by the department.
   25322.2.  "Remedial investigation" means those actions deemed
necessary by the department to determine the full extent of a
hazardous substance release at a site, identify the public health and
environment threat posed by the release, collect data on possible
remedies, and otherwise evaluate the site for purposes of developing
a remedial action plan.
   25323.  "Remove" or "removal" includes the cleanup or removal of
released hazardous substances from the environment or the taking of
other actions as may be necessary to prevent, minimize, or mitigate
damage which may otherwise result from a release or threatened
release, as further defined by Section 101(23) of the federal act (42
U.S.C. Sec. 9601(23)).
   25323.1.  "Removal action work plan" means a work plan prepared or
approved by the department or a California regional water quality
control board that is developed to carry out a removal action, in an
effective manner, that is protective of the public health and safety
and the environment.  The removal action work plan shall include a
detailed engineering plan for conducting the removal action, a
description of the onsite contamination, the goals to be achieved by
the removal action, and any alternative removal options that were
considered and rejected and the basis for that rejection.
   25323.3.  "Response," "respond," or "response action" have the
same meanings as defined in Section 9701(25) of the federal act (42
U.S.C. Sec.  9701(25)).  The enforcement and oversight activities of
the department and regional board are included within the meaning of
"response," "respond," or "response action."
   25323.5.  (a) (1) "Responsible party" or "liable person," for the
purposes of this chapter, means those persons described in Section
107(a) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9607(a)).
   (2) (A) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), but except as provided in
subparagraph (B), a person is not a responsible party or liable
person, for purposes of this chapter, for the reason that the person
has developed or implemented innovative investigative or innovative
remedial technology with regard to a release site, if the use of the
technology has been approved by the department for the release site
and the person would not otherwise be a responsible party or liable
person.  Upon approval of the use of the technology, the director
shall acknowledge, in writing, that, upon proper completion of the
innovative investigative or innovative remedial action at the release
site, the immunity provided by this subparagraph shall apply to the
person.
   (B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply in any of the following cases:

   (i) Conditions at the release site have deteriorated as a result
of the negligence of the person who developed or implemented the
innovative investigative or innovative remedial technology.
   (ii) The person who developed or implemented the innovative
investigative or innovative remedial technology withheld or
misrepresented information that was relevant to the potential risks
or harms of the technology.
   (iii) The person who implemented the innovative investigative or
innovative remedial technology did not follow the implementation
process approved by the department.
   (b) For the purposes of this chapter, the defenses available to a
responsible party or liable person shall be those defenses specified
in Sections 101(35) and 107(b) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Secs.
9601(35) and 9607(b)).
   (c) Any person who unknowingly transports hazardous waste to a
solid waste facility pursuant to the exemption provided in
subdivision (e) of Section 25163 shall not be considered a
responsible party for purposes of this chapter solely because of the
act of transporting the waste.  Nothing in this subdivision shall
affect the liability of this person for his or her negligent acts.
   25323.9.  "Site" has the same meaning as the term "facility" is
defined by Section 101(9) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601
(9)).
   25324.  "State account" means the Toxic Substances Control Account
established pursuant to Section 25173.6, except that in Section
25334 and Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 25385), "state account"
means the Hazardous Substance Account established pursuant to
Section 25330.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this section,
any costs incurred and payable from the Hazardous Substance Account,
the Hazardous Waste Control Account, or the Site Remediation Account
prior to July 1, 1998, to implement this chapter, as it read prior to
January 1, 1999, or Chapter 6.85 (commencing with Section 25396),
shall be recoverable from the liable person or persons pursuant to
Section 25360 as if the costs were incurred and payable from the
state account.
   25325.  "Federally permitted release" has the same meaning as
defined in Section 101(10) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601
(10)).
   25326.  "A release authorized or permitted pursuant to state law"
means any release into the environment which is authorized by
statute, ordinance, regulation, or rule of any state, regional, or
local agency or government or by any specific permit, license, or
similar authorization from such an agency, including one of the
foregoing, that recognizes a standard industry practice, including
variances obtained from the agency which allow operations for
facilities during a period of time when releases from the facilities
do not conform with relevant statutes, ordinances, regulations, or
rules.  The term includes a federally permitted release, as defined
by Section 25325, and releases that are in accordance with any court
order or consent decree.
   25326.5.  "Site cleanup evaluation" means an evaluation by the
department of the effectiveness of a removal or remedial action
conducted by a responsible party, to reduce or eliminate actual or
potential public health and environmental threats posed by a
hazardous substance release site if the action itself is not the
subject of oversight by the department.
   25327.  "Tier" means a grouping of hazardous substance release
sites that require removal and remedial actions, that are listed
alphabetically, and that are of a roughly equivalent priority for
removal and remedial action.

      Article 3.  Hazardous Substance Account

   25330.  There is in the General Fund the Hazardous Substance
Account which shall be administered by the director.  In addition to
any other money appropriated by the Legislature to the account, the
following amounts shall be deposited in the account:
   (a) Any interest earned on money deposited in the account.
   (b) Any money transferred from the state account pursuant to
Section 25173.6 or 25336.
   25330.2.  Funds in the state account appropriated for removal or
remedial action pursuant to this chapter are available for
encumbrance for three fiscal years subsequent to the fiscal year in
which the funds are appropriated and are available for disbursement
in liquidation of encumbrances pursuant to Section 16304.1 of the
Government Code.
   25330.4.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
Controller shall establish a separate subaccount in the state
account, for any funds received from a settlement agreement or the
General Fund for a removal or remedial action to be performed at a
specific site.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, funds
deposited in the subaccount for those removal or remedial actions are
hereby continuously appropriated to the department, without regard
to fiscal years, for removal or remedial action at the specific site,
and for administrative costs associated with the removal or remedial
action at the specific site.
   (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, money in the
subaccount for those removal or remedial actions shall not revert to
the General Fund or be transferred to any other fund or account in
the State Treasury, except for purposes of investment as provided in
Article 4 (commencing with Section 16470) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
   (d) Notwithstanding Section 16305.7 of the Government Code, all
interest or other increment resulting from investment of the funds
specified in subdivision (a) pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with
Section 16470) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code shall be deposited in the subaccount for removal or
remedial action at the specific sites.
   (e) At the conclusion of all removal or remedial actions at the
specific site, any unexpended funds in any subaccounts established
pursuant to this section shall be transferred to the subaccount for
site operation and maintenance established pursuant to Section
25330.5, if necessary, for those activities at the site, or, if not
needed for site operation and maintenance at the site, to the Toxic
Substances Control Account.
   25330.5.  (a) The Controller shall establish a separate subaccount
for site operation and maintenance in the state account.  All of the
following amounts shall be deposited in the subaccount:
   (1) Funds received from responsible parties for site operation and
maintenance.
   (2) Funds received from the federal government pursuant to the
federal act for site operation and maintenance.
   (3) Funds received from cities, counties, or any other state or
local agency for site operation and maintenance.
   (4) Funds appropriated from the state account by the Legislature
for site operation and maintenance.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, funds
deposited in the subaccount for site operation and maintenance are
hereby continuously appropriated to the department, without regard to
fiscal years, for site operation and maintenance, and for
administrative costs associated with site operation and maintenance.

   (c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, money in the
subaccount for site operation and maintenance shall not revert to the
General Fund or be transferred to any other fund or account in the
State Treasury, except for purposes of investment as provided in
Article 4 (commencing with Section 16470) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
   (d) Notwithstanding Section 16305.7 of the Government Code, all
interest or other increment resulting from investment of the funds
specified in subdivision (a) pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with
Section 16470) of Chapter 3 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code shall be deposited in the subaccount for site
operation and maintenance.
   25331.  The state account may sue and be sued in its own name.
   25334.  There is within the state account, the Hazardous Substance
Clearing Account, which shall be used to pay the principal of, and
interest on, bonds sold pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with
Section 25385).  Notwithstanding Section 25351, all of the following
moneys shall be deposited in the account for the payment of the
principal of, and interest on, bonds:
   (a) Transfers from the Superfund Bond Trust Fund made pursuant to
Section 25385.8.
   (b) Amounts received pursuant to Sections 25356.4 and 25360, as
specified in those sections, if the expenditures for removal or
remedial actions were paid from the proceeds of the bonds sold
pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 25385).
   (c) Federal moneys received pursuant to the federal act which are
designated to be used for removal or remedial actions paid for by
proceeds from the bonds issued pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing
with Section 25385).
   (d) Any moneys appropriated by the Legislature for the payment of
the principal of, and interest on, these bonds.
   (e) Any moneys derived from the premiums and  accrued interest on
these bonds.
   25334.7.  (a) The department shall report to the Governor and the
Legislature on the progress of the cleanup of the San Gabriel Valley
groundwater sites in Los Angeles County, and on the progress of
enforcement actions relating to those sites, in the biennial report
specified in Section 25178.  The report shall include, but not be
limited to, all of the following:
   (1) State expenditures and planned expenditures.
   (2) Actions accomplished at the sites.
   (3) Actions planned, including a time schedule for the
accomplishment of planned actions.
   (b) The report may be prepared in cooperation with other state and
federal agencies involved with the sites, and shall include a
summary of the activities of those additional agencies.
   25336.  There shall be deposited in the Hazardous Substance
Account any money transferred, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
from the state account.  Those moneys may be expended for repayment
of principal of, and interest on, bonds sold pursuant to Article 7.5
(commencing with Section 25385), and for all other purposes for which
the Hazardous Substance Account or the state account may be used
pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 25385).
   25337.  (a) There is in the General Fund the Site Remediation
Account, which shall be administered by the director.  The account
shall be funded by money transferred from the state account, upon
appropriation by the Legislature.  Consistent with the requirements
of Section 114(c) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9614(c)), the
moneys in the account may be expended by the department, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for direct site remediation costs.

   (b) (1) For purposes of this section, "direct site remediation
costs" means payments to contractors for investigations,
characterizations, removal, remediation, or long-term operation and
maintenance at sites contaminated or suspected of contamination by
hazardous materials, where those actions are authorized pursuant to
this chapter.
   (2) "Direct site remediation costs" also means the state-mandated
share pursuant to Section 104(c)(3) of the federal act (42 U.S.C.
Sec.  9604(c)(3)).
   (3) "Direct site remediation costs" does not include the
department's administrative expenses or the department's expenses for
staff to perform oversight of investigations, characterizations,
removals, remediations, or long-term operation and maintenance.

      Article 4.  Fees

   25342.  The Director of Finance shall schedule in the annual
Budget Act the projects proposed in any fiscal year, that will incur
direct costs for removal and remedial actions at hazardous substance
release sites.
   25343.  (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), any
potentially responsible party at a site, or any person who has
notified the department of that person's intent to undertake removal
or remediation at a site, shall reimburse the department, pursuant to
Chapter 6.66 (commencing with Section 25269), for the costs incurred
by the department for its oversight of any preliminary endangerment
assessment at that site.
   (b) This section does not apply to any notice of intent submitted
to the department prior to July 1, 1998.  Any person who submitted
such a notice shall pay the fee, if not already paid, as required by
this section as it read on December 31, 1997, unless the department
and that person mutually agree to enter into a reimbursement
agreement in lieu of any unpaid portion of the required fee.
   (c) The changes made in this section by Chapter 870 of the
Statutes of 1997 do not require amendment of, or otherwise affect,
any agreement entered into prior to July 1, 1998, pursuant to which
any person has agreed to reimburse the department for the costs
incurred by the department for its oversight of a preliminary
endangerment assessment.

      Article 5.  Uses of the State Account

   25350.  For response actions taken pursuant to the federal act,
only those costs for actions that are consistent with the priorities,
guidelines, criteria, and regulations contained in the national
contingency plan, as revised and republished pursuant to Section 105
of the federal act (42 U.S.C.  Sec. 9605), shall qualify for
appropriation by the Legislature and expenditure by the director
pursuant to Sections 25351, 25352, and 25354.  For response actions
not taken pursuant to the federal act or for response actions taken
that are not specifically addressed by the priorities, guidelines,
criteria, and regulations contained in the national contingency plan,
as revised and republished, the costs thereof shall also qualify for
appropriation by the Legislature and expenditure by the department
pursuant to Sections 25351, 25352, and 25354 provided they are, to
the maximum extent possible, consistent with the priorities,
guidelines, criteria, and regulations contained in the national
contingency plan for similar releases, situations, or events.  No
response actions taken pursuant to this chapter by the department or
regional or local agencies shall duplicate federal response actions.

   25351.1.  Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code,
there is hereby transferred annually from the Hazardous Substance
Account to the Hazardous Substance Clearing Account, and appropriated
therefrom, an amount of not more than five million dollars
($5,000,000) which is required to pay the principal of, and interest
on, bonds sold pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with Section
25385) to the extent that the funds in the Hazardous Substance
Clearing Account and the Superfund Bond Trust Fund are insufficient
to pay the principal of, and interest on, these bonds.
   25351.2.  (a) A city or county may initiate a removal or remedial
action for a site listed pursuant to Section 25356 in accordance with
this section.  Except as provided in subdivision (d), the city or
county shall, before commencing the removal or remedial action, take
all of the following actions:
   (1) The city or county shall notify the department of the planned
removal or remedial action.  Upon receiving this notification, the
department shall make a reasonable effort to notify any person
identified by the department as a potentially responsible party for
the site.  If a potentially responsible party is taking the removal
or remedial action properly and in a timely fashion, or if a
potentially responsible party will commence such an action within 60
days of this notification, the city or county may not initiate a
removal or remedial action pursuant to this section.
   (2) If a potentially responsible party for the site has not taken
the action specified in paragraph (1), the city or county shall
submit the estimated cost of the removal or remedial action to the
department, which shall, within 30 days after receiving the estimate,
approve or disapprove the reasonableness of the cost estimate.  If
the department disagrees with the cost estimate, the city or county
                                           and the department shall,
within 30 days, attempt to enter into an agreement concerning the
cost estimate.
   (3) The city or county shall demonstrate to the department that it
has sufficient funds to carry out the approved removal or remedial
action without taking into account any costs of the action that may
be, or have been, paid by a potentially responsible party.
   (b) If the director approves the request of the city or county to
initiate a removal or remedial action and a final remedial action
plan has been issued pursuant to Section 25356.1 for the hazardous
substance release site, the city or county shall be deemed to be
acting in place of the department for purposes of implementing the
remedial action plan pursuant to this chapter.
   (c) Upon reimbursing a city or county for the costs of a removal
or remedial action, the department shall recover these costs pursuant
to Section 25360.
   (d) In order for a city or county to be reimbursed for the costs
of a removal or remedial action incurred by the city or county from
the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund, the city or county shall obtain
the approval of the director before commencing the removal or
remedial action.  The director shall grant an approval only when all
actions required by law prior to implementation of a remedial action
plan have been taken.
   25351.5.  The department shall adopt any regulations necessary to
carry out its responsibilities pursuant to this chapter, including,
but not limited to, regulations governing the expenditure of, and
accounting procedures for, moneys allocated to state, regional, and
local agencies pursuant to this chapter.
   25351.6.  Notwithstanding Section 16304 of the Government Code,
the funds deposited in the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund are
available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for encumbrance
without regard to fiscal years.
   25351.7.  Any treatment, storage, transfer, or disposal facility
built on the Stringfellow Quarry Class I Hazardous Waste Disposal
Site, that was built for the purpose of a remedial or removal action
at that site, shall only be used to treat, store, transfer, or
dispose of hazardous substances removed from that site.
   25351.8.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including,
but not limited to, Sections 25334.5 and 25356, the department shall
place the highest priority on taking removal and remedial actions at
the Stringfellow Quarry Class I Hazardous Waste Disposal Site and
shall devote sufficient resources to accomplish the tasks required by
this section.
   25352.  Money deposited in the state account may also be
appropriated by the Legislature to the department on a specific site
basis for the following purposes:
   (a) For all costs incurred in restoring, rehabilitating,
replacing, or acquiring the equivalent of, any natural resource
injured, degraded, destroyed, or lost as a result of any release of a
hazardous substance, to the extent the costs are not reimbursed
pursuant to the federal act and taking into account processes of
natural rehabilitation, restoration, and replacement.
   (b) For all costs incurred in assessing short-term and long-term
injury to, degradation or destruction of, or any loss of any natural
resource resulting from a release of a hazardous substance, to the
extent that the costs are not reimbursed pursuant to the federal act.
  No costs may be incurred for any release of a hazardous substance
from any facility or project pursuant to subdivision (a) or this
subdivision for injury, degradation, destruction, or loss of any
natural resource where the injury, degradation, destruction, or loss
was specifically identified as an irreversible and irretrievable
commitment of natural resources in an environmental impact statement
prepared under the authority of the National Environmental Policy Act
(42 U.S.C. Sec.  4321 et seq.), or was identified as a significant
environmental effect to the natural resources which cannot be avoided
in an environmental impact report prepared pursuant to the
California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with
Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), and a decision to grant
a permit, license, or similar authorization for any facility or
project is based upon a consideration of the significant
environmental effects to the natural resources, and the facility or
project was otherwise operating within the terms of its permit,
license, or similar authorization at the time of release.
   (c) Notwithstanding Section 25355, the Governor, or the authorized
representative of the state, shall act on behalf of the public as
trustee of the natural resources to recover costs expended pursuant
to subdivision (a) or (b).
   25353.  (a) Except as provided in (b), the department may not
expend funds from the state account or the Hazardous Substance
Cleanup Fund for a removal or remedial action with respect to a
hazardous substance release site owned or operated by the federal
government or a state or local agency at the time of disposal to the
extent that the federal government or the state or local agency would
otherwise be liable for the costs of that action, except that the
department may expend those funds, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to oversee the carrying out of a removal or remedial
action at the site by another party.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (f), the department may
expend funds from the state account or the Hazardous Substance
Cleanup Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to take a
removal or remedial action at a hazardous substance release site
which was owned or operated by a local agency at the time of release,
if all of the following requirements are met:
   (1) The department has substantial evidence that a local agency is
not the only responsible party for the site.
   (2) The department has issued a cleanup order to, or entered into
an enforceable agreement with, the local agency pursuant to Section
25355.5 and has made a final determination that the local agency is
not in compliance with the order or enforceable agreement.
   (c) The department shall recover any funds expended pursuant to
subdivision (a) or (b) to the maximum possible extent pursuant to
Section 25360.
   (d) If a local agency is identified as a potentially responsible
party in a remedial action plan prepared pursuant to Section 25356.1,
and the department expends funds pursuant to this chapter to pay for
the local agency's share of the removal and remedial action, the
expenditure of these funds shall be deemed to be a loan from the
state to the local agency.  If the department determines that the
local agency is not making adequate progress toward repaying the loan
made pursuant to this section, the State Board of Equalization
shall, upon notice by the department, withhold the unpaid amount of
the loan, in increments from the sales and use tax transmittals made
pursuant to Section 7204 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, to the
city or county in which the local agency is located.  The State Board
of Equalization shall structure the amounts to be withheld so that
complete repayment of the loan, together with interest and
administrative charges, occurs within five years after a local agency
has been notified by the department of the amount which it owes.
The State Board of Equalization shall deposit any funds withheld
pursuant to this section in the Hazardous Substance Clearing Account
for the purposes specified in Section 25334, if the department
expended the funds from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund, or into
the state account, if the department expended the funds from the
state account.
   (e) The department may not expend funds from the state account or
the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund for the purposes specified in
Section 25352 where the injury, degradation, destruction, or loss to
natural resources, or the release of a hazardous substance from which
the damages to natural resources resulted, has occurred prior to
September 25, 1981.
   (f) The department may not expend funds from the state account or
the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund for a removal or remedial action
at any waste management unit owned or operated by a local agency if
it meets both of the following conditions:
   (1) It is classified as a class III waste management unit pursuant
to Subchapter 15 (commencing with Section 2510) of Chapter 3 of
Title 23 of the California Administrative Code.
   (2) It was in operation on or after January 1, 1988.
   25354.  (a) There is hereby continuously appropriated from the
state account to the department the sum of one million dollars
($1,000,000) for each fiscal year as a reserve account for
emergencies, notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code.
The department shall expend moneys available in the reserve account
only for the purpose of taking immediate corrective action necessary
to remedy or prevent an emergency resulting from a fire or an
explosion of, or human exposure to, hazardous substances caused by
the release or threatened release of a hazardous substance.
   (b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department
may enter into written contracts for corrective action taken or to
be taken pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may
enter into oral contracts, not to exceed ten thousand dollars
($10,000) in obligation, when, in the judgment of the department,
immediate corrective action is necessary to remedy or prevent an
emergency specified in subdivision (a).
   (3) The contracts made pursuant to this subdivision, whether
written or oral, may include provisions for the rental of tools or
equipment, either with or without operators furnished, and for the
furnishing of labor and materials necessary to accomplish the work.
   (4) If the department finds that the corrective action includes
the relocation of individuals, the department may contract with those
individuals for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in moving for an
amount of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).
   (c) The department shall include in the biennial report specified
in Section 25178 an accounting of the moneys expended pursuant to
this section.  Once the appropriation made pursuant to subdivision
(a) is fully expended, the director may file a report with the
Legislature if it is in session or, if it is not in session, with the
Committee on Rules of the Assembly and the Senate as to the moneys
expended pursuant to this section.  The Legislature may appropriate
moneys from the state account, in addition to those moneys
appropriated pursuant to subdivision (a), to the department for the
purpose of taking corrective action pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (d) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the amount deposited in
the reserve account and appropriated pursuant to this section shall
not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000) in any fiscal year.  On
June 30 of each year, the unencumbered balance of the reserve account
shall revert to and be deposited in the state account.
   25354.5.  (a) Any state or local law enforcement officer or
investigator or other law enforcement agency employee who, in the
course of an official investigation or enforcement action regarding
the manufacture of any illegal controlled substance, comes in contact
with, or is aware of, the presence of a substance that the person
suspects is a hazardous substance at a site where an illegal
controlled substance is or was manufactured, shall notify the
department for the purpose of taking removal action, as necessary, to
prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage that might otherwise result
from the release or threatened release of the hazardous substance,
except for samples required to be kept for evidentiary purposes.
   (b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon receipt
of a notification pursuant to subdivision (a), the department shall
take removal action, as necessary, with respect to any hazardous
substance that is an illegal controlled substance, a precursor of a
controlled substance, a material intended to be used in the unlawful
manufacture of a controlled substance, or a waste material from the
unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance.  The department may
expend funds appropriated from the Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account
created pursuant to subdivision (e) to pay the costs of removal
actions required by this section.  The department may enter into oral
contracts, not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in
obligation, when, in the judgment of the department, immediate
corrective action to a hazardous substance subject to this section is
necessary to remedy or prevent an emergency.
   (2) The department shall, as soon as the information is available,
report the location of any removal action that will be carried out
pursuant to paragraph (1), and the time that the removal action will
be carried out, to the local environmental health officer within
whose jurisdiction the removal action will take place, if the local
environmental officer does both of the following:
   (A) Requests, in writing, that the department report this
information to the local environmental health officer.
   (B) Provides the department with a single 24-hour telephone number
to which the information can be reported.
   (c) (1) For purposes of Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section
25100) or this chapter, any person who is found to have operated a
site for the purpose of manufacturing an illegal controlled substance
or a precursor of an illegal controlled substance is the generator
of any hazardous substance at, or released from, the site that is
subject to removal action pursuant to this section.
   (2) During the removal action, for purposes of complying with the
manifest requirements in Section 25160, the department, the county
health department, the local environmental health officer, or their
designee may sign the hazardous waste manifest as the generator of
the hazardous waste.  In carrying out that action, the department,
the county health department, the local environmental health officer,
or their designee shall be considered to have acted in furtherance
of their statutory responsibilities to protect the public health and
safety and the environment from the release, or threatened release,
of hazardous substances, and the department, the county health
department, the local environmental health officer, or their designee
are not responsible parties for the release or threatened release of
the hazardous substances.
   (3) The officer, investigator, or agency employee specified in
subdivision (a) is not a responsible party for the release or
threatened release of any hazardous substances at, or released from,
the site.
   (d) The department may adopt regulations to implement this section
in consultation with appropriate law enforcement and local
environmental agencies.
   (e) The Illegal Drug Lab Cleanup Account is hereby created in the
General Fund and the department may expend any money in the account,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out the removal
actions required by this section.  The account shall be funded by
moneys appropriated directly from the General Fund.
   (f) The responsibilities assigned to the department by this
section apply only to the extent that sufficient funding is made
available for that purpose.
   25355.  (a) The Governor is responsible for the coordination of
all state response actions for sites identified in Section 25356 in
order to assure the maximum use of available federal funds.
   (b) The director may initiate removal or remedial action pursuant
to this chapter unless these actions have been taken, or are being
taken properly and in a timely fashion, by any responsible party.
   (c) (1) At least 30 days before initiating removal or remedial
actions, the department shall make a reasonable effort to notify the
persons identified by the department as potentially responsible
parties and shall also publish a notification of this action in a
newspaper of general circulation pursuant to the method specified in
Section 6061 of the Government Code.  This subdivision does not apply
to actions taken pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25358.3 or
immediate corrective actions taken pursuant to Section 25354.  A
responsible party may be held liable pursuant to this chapter whether
or not the person was given the notice specified in this
subdivision.
   (2) (A) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 25317, any
person may voluntarily enter into an enforceable agreement with the
department pursuant to this subdivision that allows removal or
remedial actions to be conducted under the oversight of the
department at sites with petroleum releases from sources other than
underground storage tanks, as defined in Section 25299.24.
   (B) If the department determines that there may be an adverse
impact to water quality as a result of a petroleum release, the
department shall notify the appropriate regional board prior to
entering into the enforceable agreement pursuant to subparagraph (A).
  The department may enter into an enforceable agreement pursuant to
subparagraph (A) unless, within 60 days of the notification provided
by the department, the regional board provides the department with a
written notice that the regional board will assume oversight
responsibility for the removal or remedial action.
   (C) Agreements entered into pursuant to this paragraph shall
provide that the party will reimburse the department for all costs
incurred including, but not limited to, oversight costs pursuant to
the enforceable agreement associated with the performance of the
removal or remedial actions and Chapter 6.66 (commencing with Section
25269).
   (d) The department shall notify the owner of the real property of
the site of a hazardous substance release within 30 days after
listing a site pursuant to Section 25356, and at least 30 days before
initiating a removal or remedial action pursuant to this chapter, by
sending the notification by certified mail to the person to whom the
real property is assessed, as shown upon the last equalized
assessment roll of the county, at the address shown on the assessment
roll.  The requirements of this subdivision do not apply to actions
taken pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25358.3 or to immediate
corrective actions taken pursuant to Section 25354.
   25355.2.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c), the
department or the regional board shall require any responsible party
who is required to comply with operation and maintenance requirements
as part of a response action, to demonstrate and to maintain
financial assurance in accordance with this section.  The responsible
party shall demonstrate financial assurance prior to the time that
operation and maintenance activities are initiated and shall maintain
it throughout the period of time necessary to complete all required
operation and maintenance activities.
   (b) (1) For purposes of subdivision (a), the responsible party
shall demonstrate and maintain one or more of the financial assurance
mechanisms set forth in subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of
Section 66265.143 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.

   (2) As an alternative to the requirement of paragraph (1), a
responsible party may demonstrate and maintain financial assurance by
means of a financial assurance mechanism other than those listed in
paragraph (1), if the alternative financial assurance mechanism has
been submitted to, and approved by, the department or the regional
board as being at least equivalent to the financial assurance
mechanisms specified in paragraph (1).  The department or the
regional board shall evaluate the equivalency of the proposed
alternative financial assurance mechanism principally in terms of the
certainty of the availability of funds for required operation and
maintenance activities and the amount of funds that will be made
available.  The department or the regional board shall require the
responsible party to submit any information necessary to make a
determination as to the equivalency of the proposed alternative
financial assurance mechanism.
   (c) The department or the regional board shall waive the financial
assurance required by subdivision (a) if the department or the
regional board makes one of the following determinations:
   (1) The responsible party is a small business and has demonstrated
all of the following:
   (A) The responsible party cannot qualify for any of the financial
assurance mechanisms set forth in subdivisions (b), (c), and (d) of
Section 66265.143 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.

   (B) The responsible party financially cannot meet the requirements
of subdivision (a) of Section 66265.143 of Title 22 of the
California Code of Regulations.
   (C) The responsible party is not capable of meeting the
eligibility requirements set forth in subdivision (e) of Section
66265.143 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
   (2) The responsible party is a small business and has demonstrated
that the responsible party financially is not capable of
establishing one of the financial assurance mechanisms set forth in
subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, of Section 66265.143 of Title 22
of the California Code of Regulations while at the same time
financing the operation and maintenance requirements applicable to
the site.
   (3) The responsible party is not separately required to
demonstrate and maintain a financial assurance mechanism for
operation and maintenance activities at a site because of all of the
following conditions:
   (A) The site is a multiple responsible party site.
   (B) Financial assurance that operation and maintenance activities
at the site will be carried out is demonstrated and maintained by a
financial assurance mechanism established jointly by all, or some, of
the responsible parties.
   (C) The financial assurance mechanism specified in subparagraph
(B) meets the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (b).
   (d) The department or the regional board shall withdraw a waiver
granted pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (c) if the
department or the regional board determines that the responsible
party that obtained the waiver no longer meets the eligibility
requirements for the waiver.
   (e) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, on or
before January 15, 2001, the department shall report to the
Legislature all of the following:
   (1) The number of requests the department and the regional boards
have received for waivers from the financial assurance requirements
of this section during the period between the effective date of the
act that enacts this section and January 1, 2001.
   (2) The disposition of the requests that were received and the
reasons for granting the waivers that were allowed and rejecting the
waivers that were disallowed.
   (3) The total number of businesses or other entities that were
required by this section to demonstrate and maintain financial
assurance, the number of businesses or other entities that were able
to comply with the requirement, the number that were unable to comply
and the reasons why they could not or did not comply, and the
history of compliance with this chapter and Chapter 6.5 (commencing
with Section 25100) by responsible parties that requested waivers.
   (4) Financial assurance mechanisms other than the financial
assurance mechanisms referenced in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b)
that may be available to responsible parties.
   (f) For purposes of this section, "small business" is a business
that meets the requirements set forth in subdivision (d) of Section
14837 of the Government Code.
   25355.5.  (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b), (c), and
(d), no money shall be expended from the Hazardous Substance Account
or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund for removal or remedial
actions on any site selected for inclusion on the list established
pursuant to Section 25356, unless the department first  takes both of
the following actions:
   (1) The department issues one of the following orders or enters
into the following agreement:
   (A) The department issues an order specifying a schedule for
compliance or correction pursuant to Section 25187.
   (B) The department issues an order establishing a schedule for
removing or remedying the release of a hazardous substance at the
site, or for correcting the conditions that threaten the release of a
hazardous substance.  The order shall include, but is not limited
to, requiring specific dates by which necessary corrective actions
shall be taken to remove the threat of a release, or dates by which
the nature and extent of a release shall be determined and the site
adequately characterized, a remedial action plan shall be prepared,
the remedial action plan shall be submitted to the department for
approval, and a removal or remedial action shall be completed.
   (C) The department enters into an enforceable agreement with a
potentially responsible party for the site that requires the party to
take necessary corrective action to remove the threat of the
release, or to determine the nature and extent of the release and
adequately characterize the site, prepare a remedial action plan, and
complete the necessary removal or remedial actions, as required in
the approved remedial action plan.
   Any enforceable agreement entered into pursuant to this section
may provide for the execution and recording of a written instrument
that imposes an easement, covenant, restriction, or servitude, or
combination thereof, as appropriate, upon the present and future uses
of the site.  The instrument shall provide that the easement,
covenant, restriction, or servitude, or combination thereof, as
appropriate, is subject to the variance or removal procedures
specified in Sections 25233 and 25234.  Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, an easement, covenant, restriction, or servitude,
or any combination thereof, as appropriate, executed pursuant to this
section and recorded so as to provide constructive notice runs with
the land from the date of recordation, is binding upon all of the
owners of the land, their heirs, successors, and assignees, and the
agents, employees, or lessees of the owners, heirs, successors, and
assignees, and is enforceable by the department pursuant to Article 8
(commencing with Section 25180) of Chapter 6.5.
   (2) The department determines, in writing, that the potentially
responsible party or parties for the hazardous substance release site
have not complied with all of the terms of an order issued pursuant
to subparagraph (A) or (B) of paragraph (1) or an agreement entered
into pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1).  Before the
department                                           determines that
a potentially responsible party is not in compliance with the order
or agreement, the department shall give the potentially responsible
party written notice of the proposed determination and an opportunity
to correct the noncompliance or show why the order should be
modified.  After the department has made the final determination that
a potentially responsible party is not in compliance with the order
or agreement, the department may expend money from the Hazardous
Substance Account or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund for a
removal or remedial action.
   (b) Subdivision (a) does not apply, and money from the Hazardous
Substance Account or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund shall be
available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for removal or
remedial actions, if any of the following conditions apply:
   (1) The department, after a reasonable effort, is unable to
identify a potential responsible party for the hazardous substance
release site.
   (2) The department determines that immediate corrective action is
necessary, as provided in Section 25354.
   (3) The director determines that removal or remedial action at a
site is necessary because there may be an imminent and substantial
endangerment to the public health or welfare or to the environment.
   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the department may expend
funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the Hazardous
Substance Cleanup Fund or the Hazardous Substance Account to conduct
activities necessary to verify that an uncontrolled release of
hazardous substances has occurred at a suspected hazardous substance
release site, to issue an order or enter into an enforceable
agreement pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), and to
review, comment upon, and approve or disapprove remedial action plans
submitted by potentially responsible parties subject to the orders
or the enforceable agreement.
   (d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the department may expend
funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the Hazardous
Substance Cleanup Fund or the Hazardous Substance Account, to provide
for oversight of removal and remedial actions, or, if the site is
also listed on the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604(c)(3)), to
provide the state's share of a removal or remedial action.
   (e) A responsible party who fails, as determined by the department
in writing, to comply with an order issued pursuant to subparagraph
(A) or (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), or to comply with all
of the terms of an enforceable agreement entered into pursuant to
subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), shall be
deemed, for purposes of subdivision (b) of Section 25355, to have
failed to take action properly and in a timely fashion with respect
to a hazardous substance release or a threatened release.
   25355.6.  (a) The State Water Resources Control Board or a
California regional water quality control board that has jurisdiction
over a hazardous substance release site pursuant to Division 7
(commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code may refer the site
to the department as a candidate for listing pursuant to Section
25356.  After determining that the site meets the criteria adopted
pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25356, the department may
place the site on the list of sites subject to this chapter and
establish its priority ranking pursuant to Section 25356.
   (b) If a hazardous substance release site is referred to the
department and is listed pursuant to subdivision (a), the department
may expend money from the state account or the Hazardous Substance
Cleanup Fund for removal or remedial action at the site, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, without first issuing an order or
entering into an agreement pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision
(a) of Section 25355.5, if all of the following apply:
   (1) The State Water Resources Control Board or a California
regional water quality control board has issued either a cease and
desist order pursuant to Section 13301 of the Water Code or a cleanup
and abatement order pursuant to Section 13304 of the Water Code to
the potentially responsible party for the site.
   (2) The State Water Resources Control Board or the California
regional water quality control board has made a final finding that
the potentially responsible party has not complied with the order
issued pursuant to paragraph (1).
   (3) The State Water Resources Control Board or the California
regional water quality control board has notified the potentially
responsible party of the determination made pursuant to paragraph (2)
and that the hazardous substance release site has been referred to
the department pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (c) If a hazardous substance release site is referred to the
department pursuant to subdivision (a), and the department makes
either of the following determinations, the department shall notify
the appropriate California regional water quality control board and
the State Water Resources Control Board:
   (1) The department determines that the site does not meet the
criteria established pursuant to subdivision (a) and the site cannot
be placed, pursuant to Section 25356, on the list of sites subject to
this chapter.
   (2) The department determines that a removal or remedial action at
the site will not commence for a period of one year from the date of
listing due to a lack of funds or the low priority of the site.
   (d) If a California regional water resources control board or the
State Water Resources Control Board receives a notice pursuant to
subdivision (c), the regional board or state board may take any
further action concerning the hazardous substance release site which
the regional board or state board determines to be necessary or
feasible, and which is authorized by this chapter or Division 7
(commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code.
   25355.7.  The department and the State Water Resources Control
Board concurrently shall establish policies and procedures consistent
with this chapter that the department's representatives shall follow
in overseeing and supervising the activities of responsible parties
who are carrying out the investigation of, and taking removal or
remedial actions at, hazardous substance release sites.  The policies
and procedures shall be consistent with the policies and procedures
established pursuant to Section 13307 of the Water Code, and shall
include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
   (a) The procedures the department will follow in making decisions
as to when a potentially responsible party may be required to
undertake an investigation to determine if a hazardous substance
release has occurred.
   (b) Policies for carrying out a phased, step-by-step investigation
to determine the nature and extent of possible soil and groundwater
contamination at a site.
   (c) Procedures for identifying and utilizing the most
cost-effective methods for detecting contamination and carrying out
removal or remedial actions.
   (d) Policies for determining reasonable schedules for
investigation and removal or remedial action at a site.  The policies
shall recognize the dangers to public health and the environment
posed by a release and the need to mitigate those dangers, while
taking into account, to the extent possible, the financial and
technical resources available to a responsible party.
   25355.8.  (a) The department shall not agree to oversee the
preparation of, or to review, a preliminary endangerment assessment
for property if action is, or may be, necessary to address a release
or threatened release of a hazardous substance, and the department
shall not issue a letter stating that no further action is necessary
with regard to property, unless the person requesting the department
action does either of the following:
   (1) Provides the department with all of the following:
   (A) Proof of the identity of all current record owners of fee
title to the property and their mailing addresses.
   (B) Written evidence that the owners of record have been sent a
notice that describes the actions completed or proposed by the
requesting person.
   (C) An acknowledgment of the receipt of the notice required in
subparagraph (B), from the property owners or proof that the
requesting person has made reasonable efforts to deliver the notice
to the property owner and was unable to do so.
   (2) Proof of the identity of all current record owners of fee
title to the property and proof that the requesting person has made
reasonable efforts to locate the property owners and was unable to do
so.
   (b) The department shall take all reasonable steps necessary to
accommodate property owner participation in the site remediation
process and shall consider all input and recommendations received
from the owner of property which is the subject of the proposed
action.
   (c) This section only applies to instances where a person requests
the department to oversee the preparation of, or to review, a
preliminary endangerment assessment, or requests the department to
issue a letter stating that no further action is necessary with
regard to property.  Nothing in this section imposes a condition
upon, limits, or impacts in any way, the department's authority to
compel any potentially responsible party to take any action in
response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance
or to recover costs incurred from any potentially responsible party.

   25356.  (a) The department shall adopt, by regulation, the
criteria for the selection and for the priority ranking of sites
pursuant to subdivision (b), for response action under this chapter,
and shall adopt criteria for the assignment of sites to one of the
three tiers pursuant to subdivision (b).  The criteria shall take
into account the pertinent factors relating to the public health and
the environment, which shall include, but are not limited to,
potential hazards to public health and environment, the risk of fire
or explosion, toxic hazards, the extent to which the deferral of a
response action will result, or is likely to result, in a rapid
increase in cost, or in hazard to human health  and the environment,
and the criteria established pursuant to Section 105(8) of the
federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9605(8)).  The criteria may include a
minimum hazard threshold, below which sites shall not be listed
pursuant to this section, if the sites are subject to the authority
of the department to order response action, or similar action,
pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100).
   (b) (1) The department shall publish and revise, at least
annually, a listing of the sites subject to this chapter.  The sites
shall be categorized and placed on one of the following lists:
   (A) A list of the hazardous substance release sites for which the
department has identified a responsible party, and the responsible
party is in compliance, as determined by the department, with an
order issued, or an enforceable agreement entered into, pursuant to
subdivision (a) of Section 25355.5.  The department  shall publish
the list of sites under this subparagraph in an appendix to the
site-specific plan of expenditures prepared pursuant to Section
25334.5.
   (B) A list of the hazardous substance release sites for which all
of the following apply:
   (i) The department has not been able to identify a responsible
party or the responsible party is not in compliance, as determined by
the department, with an order issued, or an enforceable agreement
entered into, pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25355.5.
   (ii) The nature and extent of the hazardous substance release at
the site has not been adequately characterized by the responsible
party or the department.
   The department shall characterize a site on the list before
ranking the site on the list described in subparagraph (C).
   (C) A list of the hazardous substance release sites that were
previously listed pursuant to subparagraph (A), if the sites have
been adequately characterized but the responsible parties are not in
compliance with an order or enforceable agreement issued or entered
into pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25355.5, or sites that
were previously listed pursuant to subparagraph (B) but which have
since been adequately characterized by the department.  Sites on the
list specified in this subparagraph shall be ranked numerically in
accordance with the criteria adopted for the priority ranking of
sites.
   (2) The department shall assign each site listed  pursuant to
subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1), sites listed on the
National Priorities List pursuant to the federal act, and sites that
are federal military facilities to one of three tiers for the purpose
of informing the public of the relative hazard of the sites.  The
listing of sites by tiers shall be widely disseminated to the public.
  The "priority one" tier shall include any site that poses a known
or probable immediate threat to public health through direct human
contact, explosions, fires, or acutely serious air emissions, has a
high potential to contaminate or to continue to contaminate
groundwater resources that are present or possible future sources of
drinking water, or any site for which the costs for response action
pose the risk of increasing rapidly if response action is deferred.
The "priority two" tier shall include any site that poses a
substantial but less immediate threat to public health and safety or
the environment.  The "priority three" tier shall include any site
that will require response action, but presents only a limited and
defined threat to human health or the environment.  Priority two and
three tiers may contain sites formerly listed in tiers one or two for
which direct human health threats have been removed and at which
physical deterioration in environmental quality has been stabilized.
For the purpose of this paragraph, in informing the public of the
relative environmental and public health threats posed by a site, the
department shall list sites alphabetically within each of the three
tiers.  The department shall periodically update the list of sites by
tiers to reflect new information regarding existing sites or the
addition of new sites requiring response action.  No site listed
pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) shall be listed
pursuant to this subdivision.
   (c) Hazardous substance release sites listed by the department
pursuant to subdivision (b) are subject to this chapter and all
actions carried out in response to hazardous substance releases or
threatened releases at listed sites shall comply with the procedures,
standards, and other requirements set forth in this chapter or
established pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.
   (d) The department's development and publication of the listings
of sites, pursuant to subdivision (b) and the adoption of a minimum
hazard threshold and the classification of a site as within that
threshold pursuant to subdivision (a), are not subject to Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2
of the Government Code.
   (e) Funds appropriated to the department for remedial action shall
be expended in conformance with the priority ranking of sites, as
established on the list of sites specified in subparagraph (C) of
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), except that funds appropriated for
remedial action may  be expended without conforming to the priority
ranking if either of the following apply:
   (1) The funds are necessary to monitor removal or remedial actions
conducted by private parties listed pursuant to subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) or the state funds are necessary for
the state share of a removal or remedial action pursuant to Section
104(c)(3) of the federal act (42 U.S.C.  Sec. 9604(c)(3)).
   (2) The funds are used for either of the following purposes:
   (A) To assess, evaluate, and characterize the nature and extent of
a hazardous substance release on sites listed pursuant to
subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
   (B) To carry out activities pursuant to subparagraph (B) or (C) of
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), or subdivision (c) or (d) of,
Section 25355.5.
   (f) Funds may be expended on more than one site on the list
specified in subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1) of
subdivision (b) at any one time.  In addition, funds may be expended
for oversight of any activities conducted by a responsible party on
more than one site on the list specified in subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) at any one time.
   (g) This section does not require the department to characterize
every site listed pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of
subdivision (b) before the department may begin removal or remedial
actions at sites listed pursuant to subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1)
of subdivision (b).
   (h) The department, or, if appropriate, the California regional
water quality control board, is the state agency with sole
responsibility for ensuring that required action in response to a
hazardous substance release or threatened release at a listed site is
carried out in compliance with the procedures, standards, and other
requirements set forth in this chapter, and shall, as appropriate,
coordinate the involvement of interested or affected agencies in the
response action.
   25356.1.  (a) For purposes of this section, "regional board" means
a California regional water quality control board and "state board"
means the State Water Resources Control Board.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (h), the department, or, if
appropriate, the regional board shall prepare or approve remedial
action plans for all sites listed pursuant to Section 25356.
   (c) A potentially responsible party may request the department or
the regional board, when appropriate, to prepare or approve a
remedial action plan for any site not listed pursuant to Section
25356, if the department or the regional board determines that a
removal or remedial action is required to respond to a release of a
hazardous substance.  The department or the regional board shall
respond to a request to prepare or approve a remedial action plan
within 90 days of receipt.  This subdivision does not affect the
authority of any regional board to issue and enforce a cleanup and
abatement order pursuant to Section 13304 of the Water Code or a
cease and desist order pursuant to Section 13301 of the Water Code.
   (d) All remedial action plans prepared or approved pursuant to
this section shall be based upon Section 25350, Subpart E of the
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (40
C.F.R. 300.400 et seq.), and any amendments thereto, and upon all of
the following factors, to the extent that these factors are
consistent with these federal regulations and do not require a less
stringent level of cleanup than these federal regulations:
   (1) Health and safety risks posed by the conditions at the site.
When considering these risks, the department or the regional board
shall consider scientific data and reports which may have a
relationship to the site.
   (2) The effect of contamination or pollution levels upon present,
future, and probable beneficial uses of contaminated, polluted, or
threatened resources.
   (3) The effect of alternative remedial action measures on the
reasonable availability of groundwater resources for present, future,
and probable beneficial uses.  The department or the regional board
shall consider the extent to which remedial action measures are
available that use, as a principal element, treatment that
significantly reduces the volume, toxicity, or mobility of the
hazardous substances, as opposed to remedial actions that do not use
this treatment.  The department or the regional board shall not
select remedial action measures which use offsite transport and
disposal of untreated hazardous substances or contaminated materials
if practical and cost-effective treatment technologies are available.

   (4) Site-specific characteristics, including the potential for
offsite migration of hazardous substances, the surface or subsurface
soil, and the hydrogeologic conditions, as well as preexisting
background contamination levels.
   (5) Cost-effectiveness of alternative remedial action measures.
In evaluating the cost-effectiveness of proposed alternative remedial
action measures, the department or the regional board shall
consider, to the extent possible, the total short-term and long-term
costs of these actions and shall use, as a major factor, whether the
deferral of a remedial action will result, or is likely to result, in
a rapid increase in cost or in the hazard to public health or the
environment posed by the site.  Land disposal shall not be deemed the
most cost-effective measure merely on the basis of lower short-term
cost.
   (6) The potential environmental impacts of alternative remedial
action measures, including, but not limited to, land disposal of the
untreated hazardous substances as opposed to treatment of the
hazardous substances to remove or reduce its volume, toxicity, or
mobility prior to disposal.
   (e) A remedial action plan prepared pursuant to this section shall
include the basis for the remedial action selected and shall include
an evaluation of each alternative considered and rejected by the
department or the regional board for a particular site.  The plan
shall include an explanation for rejection of alternative remedial
actions considered but rejected.  The plan shall also include an
evaluation of the consistency of the selected remedial action with
the requirements of the federal regulations and the factors specified
in subdivision (d), if those factors are not otherwise adequately
addressed through compliance with the federal regulations.  The
remedial action plan shall also include a nonbinding preliminary
allocation of responsibility among all identifiable potentially
responsible parties at a particular site, including those parties
which may have been released, or may otherwise be immune, from
liability pursuant to this chapter or any other provision of law.
Before adopting a final remedial action plan, the department or the
regional board shall prepare or approve a draft remedial action plan
and shall do all of the following:
   (1) Circulate the draft plan for at least 30 days for public
comment.
   (2) Notify affected local and state agencies of the removal and
remedial actions proposed in the remedial action plan and publish a
notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by
the draft remedial action plan.  The department or the regional board
shall also post notices in the location where the proposed removal
or remedial action would be located and shall notify, by direct
mailing, the owners of property contiguous to the site addressed by
the plan, as shown in the latest equalized assessment roll.
   (3) Hold one or more meetings with the lead and responsible
agencies for the removal and remedial actions, the potentially
responsible parties for the removal and remedial actions, and the
interested public, to provide the public with the information which
is necessary to address the issues which concern the public.  The
information to be provided shall include an assessment of the degree
of contamination, the characteristics of the hazardous substances, an
estimate of the time required to carry out the removal and remedial
actions, and a description of the proposed removal and remedial
actions.
   (4) Comply with Section 25358.7.
   (f) After complying with subdivision (e), the department or the
regional board shall review and consider any public comments, and
shall revise the draft plan, if appropriate.  The department or the
regional board shall then issue the final remedial action plan.
   (g) (1) A potentially responsible party named in the final
remedial action plan issued by the department or the regional board
may seek judicial review of the final remedial action plan by filing
a petition for writ of mandate pursuant to Section 1085 of the Code
of Civil Procedure within 30 days after the final remedial action
plan is issued by the department or the regional board.  Any other
person who has the right to seek judicial review of the final
remedial action plan by filing a petition for writ of mandate
pursuant to Section 1085 of the Code of Civil Procedure shall do so
within one year after the final remedial action plan is issued.  No
action may be brought by a potentially responsible party to review
the final remedial action plan if the petition for writ of mandate is
not filed within 30 days of the date that the final remedial action
plan was issued.  No action may be brought by any other person to
review the final remedial action plan if the petition for writ of
mandate is not filed within one year of the date that the final
remedial action plan was issued.  The filing of a petition for writ
of mandate to review the final remedial action plan shall not stay
any removal or remedial action specified in the final plan.
   (2) For purposes of judicial review, the court shall uphold the
final remedial action plan if the plan is based upon substantial
evidence available to the department or the regional board, as the
case may be.
   (3) This subdivision does not prohibit the court from granting any
appropriate relief within its jurisdiction, including, but not
limited to, enjoining the expenditure of funds pursuant to paragraph
(2) of subdivision (b) of Section 25385.6.
   (h) (1) This section does not require the department or a regional
board to prepare a remedial action plan if conditions present at a
site present an imminent or substantial endangerment to the public
health and safety or to the environment or, if the department, a
regional board, or a responsible party takes a removal action at a
site and the estimated cost of the removal action is less than one
million dollars ($1,000,000).  The department or a regional board
shall prepare or approve a removal action workplan for all sites
where a nonemergency removal action is proposed and where a remedial
action plan is not required.  For sites where removal actions are
planned and are projected to cost less than one million dollars
($1,000,000), the department or a regional board shall make the local
community aware of the hazardous substance release site and shall
prepare, or direct the parties responsible for the removal action to
prepare, a community profile report to determine the level of public
interest in the removal action.  Based on the level of expressed
interest, the department or regional board shall take appropriate
action to keep the community informed of project activity and to
provide
opportunities for public comment which may include conducting a
public meeting on proposed removal actions.
   (2) A remedial action plan is not required pursuant to subdivision
(b) if the site is listed on the National Priority List by the
Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the federal act, if the
department or the regional board concurs with the remedy selected by
the Environmental Protection Agency's record of decision.  The
department or the regional board may sign the record of decision
issued by the Environmental Protection Agency if the department or
the regional board concurs with the remedy selected.
   (3) The department may waive the requirement that a remedial
action plan meet the requirements specified in subdivision (d) if all
of the following apply:
   (A) The responsible party adequately characterizes the hazardous
substance conditions at a site listed pursuant to Section 25356.
   (B) The responsible party submits to the department, in a form
acceptable to the department, all of the following:
   (i) A description of the techniques and methods to be employed in
excavating, storing, handling, transporting, treating, and disposing
of materials from the site.
   (ii) A listing of the alternative remedial measures which were
considered by the responsible party in selecting the proposed removal
action.
   (iii) A description of methods that will be employed during the
removal action to ensure the health and safety of workers and the
public during the removal action.
   (iv) A description of prior removal actions with similar hazardous
substances and with similar public safety and environmental
considerations.
   (C) The department determines that the remedial action plan
provides protection of human health and safety and for the
environment at least equivalent to that which would be provided by a
remedial action plan prepared in accordance with subdivision (c).
   (D) The total cost of the removal action is less than two million
dollars ($2,000,000).
   (4) For purposes of this section, the cost of a removal action
includes the cleanup of removal of released hazardous substances from
the environment or the taking of other actions which are necessary
to prevent, minimize, or mitigate damage which may otherwise result
from a release or threatened release, as further defined by Section
9601 (23) of Title 42 of the United States Code.
   (5) Paragraph (2) of this subdivision does not apply to a removal
action paid from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund.
   (i) Article 2 (commencing with Section 13320), Article 3
(commencing with Section 13330), Article 5 (commencing with Section
13350), and Article 6 (commencing with Section 13360) of Chapter 5 of
Division 7 of the Water Code apply to any action or failure to act
by a regional board pursuant to this section.
   25356.1.3. (a) In exercising its authority at a hazardous
substance release site pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25355.5
or 25358.3, the department shall issue orders to the largest
manageable number of potentially responsible parties after
considering all of the following:
   (1) The adequacy of the evidence of each potentially responsible
party's liability.
   (2) The financial viability of each potentially responsible party.

   (3) The relationship or contribution of each potentially
responsible party to the release, or threat of release, of hazardous
substances at the site.
   (4) The resources available to the department.
   (b) The department shall schedule a meeting pursuant to Section
25269.5 and notify all identified potentially responsible parties of
the date, time, and location of the meeting.
   (c) A person issued an order pursuant to Section 25355.5 or
25358.3 may identify additional potentially responsible parties for
the site to which the order is applicable and may request the
department to issue an order to those parties.  The request shall
include, with appropriate documentation, the factual and legal basis
for identifying those parties as potentially responsible parties for
the site.  The department shall review the request and accompanying
information and, within a reasonable period of time, determine if
there is a factual and legal basis for identifying other persons as
potentially responsible parties, and notify the person that made the
request of the action the department will take in response to the
request.
   (d) Any determination made by the department regarding the largest
manageable number of potentially responsible parties or the
identification of other persons as potentially responsible parties
pursuant to this section is not subject to judicial review.  This
subdivision does not affect the rights of any potentially responsible
party or the department under any other provision of this chapter.
   25356.1.5.  (a) Any response action taken or approved pursuant to
this chapter shall be based upon, and be no less stringent than, all
of the following requirements:
   (1) The requirements established under federal regulation pursuant
to Subpart E of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (40 C.F.R. 300.400 et seq.), as amended.
   (2) The regulations established pursuant to Division 7 (commencing
with Section 13000) of the Water Code, all applicable water quality
control plans adopted pursuant to Section 13170 of the Water Code and
Article 3 (commencing with Section 13240) of Chapter 4 of Division 7
of the Water Code, and all applicable state policies for water
quality control adopted pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with
Section 13140) of Chapter 3 of Division 7 of the Water Code, to the
extent that the department or the regional board determines that
those regulations, plans, and policies do not require a less
stringent level of remediation than the federal regulations specified
in paragraph (1) and to the degree that those regulations, plans,
and policies do not authorize decisionmaking procedures that may
result in less stringent response action requirements than those
required by the federal regulations specified in paragraph (1).
   (3) Any applicable provisions of this chapter, to the extent those
provisions are consistent with the federal regulations specified in
paragraph (1) and do not require a less stringent level of
remediation than, or decisionmaking procedures that are at variance
with, the federal regulations set forth in paragraph (1).
   (b) Any health or ecological risk assessment prepared in
conjunction with a response action taken or approved pursuant to this
chapter shall be based upon Subpart E of the National Oil and
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (40 C.F.R. 300.400 et
seq.), the policies, guidelines, and practices of the United States
Environmental Protection Agency developed pursuant to the federal
act, and the most current sound scientific methods, knowledge, and
practices of public health and environmental professionals who are
experienced practitioners in the fields of epidemiology, risk
assessment, environmental contamination, ecological risk, fate and
transport analysis, and toxicology.  Risk assessment practices shall
include the most current sound scientific methods for data
evaluation, exposure assessment, toxicity assessment, and risk
characterization, documentation of all assumptions, methods, models,
and calculations used in the assessment, and any health risk
assessment shall include all of the following:
   (1) Evaluation of risks posed by acutely toxic hazardous
substances based on levels at which no known or anticipated adverse
effects on health will occur, with an adequate margin of safety.
   (2) Evaluation of risks posed by carcinogens or other hazardous
substances that may cause chronic disease based on a level that does
not pose any significant risk to health.
   (3) Consideration of possible synergistic effects resulting from
exposure to, or interaction with, two or more hazardous substances.
   (4) Consideration of the effect of hazardous substances upon
subgroups that comprise a meaningful portion of the general
population, including, but not limited to, infants, children,
pregnant women, the elderly, individuals with a history of serious
illness, or other subpopulations, that are identifiable as being at
greater risk of adverse health effects due to exposure to hazardous
substances than the general population.
   (5) Consideration of exposure and body burden level that alter
physiological function or structure in a manner that may
significantly increase the risk of illness and of exposure to
hazardous substances in all media, including, but not limited to,
exposures in drinking water, food, ambient and indoor air, and soil.

   (c) If currently available scientific data are insufficient to
determine the level of a hazardous substance at which no known or
anticipated adverse effects on health will occur, with an adequate
margin of safety, or the level that poses no significant risk to
public health, the risk assessment prepared in conjunction with a
response action taken or approved pursuant to this chapter shall be
based on the level that is protective of public health, with an
adequate margin of safety.  This level shall be based exclusively on
public health considerations, shall, to the extent scientific data
are available, take into account the factors set forth in paragraphs
(1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (b), and shall be based on the
most current principles, practices, and methods used by public health
professionals who are experienced practitioners in the fields of
epidemiology, risk assessment, fate and transport analysis, and
toxicology.
   (d) The exposure assessment of any risk assessment prepared in
conjunction with a response action taken or approved pursuant to this
chapter shall include the development of reasonable maximum
estimates of exposure for both current land use conditions and
reasonably foreseeable future land use conditions at the site.
   25356.2.  (a) There is hereby created in the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment a Hazardous Substance Cleanup
Arbitration Panel.
   (b) The panel shall apportion liability for the costs of removal
and remedial actions in accordance with Sections 25356.3 and 25356.4.
  All meetings and records of the panel are exempt from Chapter 3.5
(commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of, and
Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of
Division 3 of Title 2 of, the Government Code.
   (c) The panel shall be comprised of independent private
arbitrators who have applied to the Office of Environmental Health
Hazard Assessment for membership on the panel.  Panel members shall
have (1) relevant arbitration background and (2) expertise in
engineering, expertise in the physical, biological, or health
sciences, or other relevant experience and qualifications.  Three
arbitrators shall be selected from the panel to apportion liability
for a single hazardous wastesite.  A majority of the arbitrators
selected for a single site may apportion liability for the panel
under this chapter.
   (d) The arbitrators shall be selected for an individual hazardous
wastesite as follows:
   (1) One arbitrator shall be selected by the department or by the
regional water quality control board.
   (2) One arbitrator shall be selected by the potentially
responsible party, or a majority of the potentially responsible
parties, who have submitted to binding arbitration by the panel.
   (3) The two arbitrators selected pursuant to paragraphs (1) and
(2) shall jointly select a third arbitrator.
   25356.3.  (a) The department or the California regional water
quality control board shall serve a copy by mail of the draft
remedial action plan upon all potentially responsible parties
identified in the plan.  Within 15 days after the issuance of a final
remedial action plan, any potentially responsible parties with
aggregate alleged liability in excess of 50 percent of the costs of
removal and remedial action, as set forth in the statement of reasons
issued pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 25356.1, but excluding
any costs that are the subject of an agreement under which any party
agrees to assume liability for those costs, may convene an
arbitration proceeding by agreeing to submit to binding arbitration
by the panel.  The filing of a demand to convene an arbitration panel
shall not stay any removal or remedial actions specified in the
plan.  If an arbitration panel is convened pursuant to this section,
any other potentially responsible party may elect to submit to
binding arbitration by the panel.  Any person submitting to
arbitration under this section shall agree not to contest the fact of
liability in the arbitration.  The panel shall, and the parties are
entitled to, address the proper apportionment of liability pursuant
to subdivision (b).  Submission to arbitration under this section is
not an admission of liability for any other purpose or in any other
proceeding, including a subsequent arbitration proceeding concerning
the same site.  The department or the regional water quality control
board, whichever issued the final remedial action plan, shall
participate in the arbitration proceedings to the same extent as the
potentially responsible parties which have submitted to the
arbitration.
   (b) The panel shall apportion liability for the costs of all
removal and remedial actions specified in the final remedial action
plan.
   (c) In panel proceedings, liability for the costs of removal and
remedial actions shall be apportioned among all identifiable
potentially responsible parties regardless of whether those parties
are before the panel or have otherwise been released, or are immune,
from liability pursuant to this chapter or any other provision of
law.  The panel shall apportion liability based on all of the
following criteria:
   (1) The amount of hazardous substance for which each party may be
responsible.
   (2) The degree of toxicity of the hazardous substance.
   (3) The degree of involvement of the potentially responsible
parties in the generation, transportation, treatment, or disposal of
the hazardous substance.
   (4) The degree of care exercised by the potentially responsible
parties with respect to the hazardous substances, taking into account
the characteristics of the substance.
   (5) The degree of cooperation by the potentially responsible
parties with federal, state, and local officials to prevent harm to
human health and the environment.
   (d) The panel may issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to
require attendance of a person or the production of documents, at the
request of any person identified as potentially responsible in the
remedial action plan, on its own motion, or at the request of the
department or the appropriate regional water quality control board.
A person requesting a subpoena duces tecum shall comply with Section
1985 of the Code of Civil Procedure.  The jurisdiction of subpoenas
and subpoenas duces tecum issued by the panel extends to all parts of
the state.  The subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum shall be served
pursuant to Sections 1987 and 1988 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
   If the panel determines that a person is refusing to respond to a
subpoena or subpoena duces tecum, or is guilty of a misconduct during
the arbitration and negotiation process, the panel shall certify the
facts to the superior court of the county in which the site is
located.  The court shall thereupon issue an order directing the
person to appear before the court and show cause why the person
should not be punished for contempt pursuant to Section 1209 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.  The order and a copy of the certified
statement shall be served on  the person, and thereafter the court
shall have jurisdiction of the matter.  The same proceedings shall be
followed, the same penalties may be imposed, and the person charged
may be purged of contempt in the same way as if the person has
committed a contempt in the trial of a civil action before a superior
court.
   After receipt of documents pursuant to a subpoena duces tecum, any
party may request the panel for a continuance for a reasonable
period of time to review the documents prior to proceeding with the
arbitration.  The panel may grant a continuance for that purpose upon
a showing of good cause.
   (e) This chapter does not require a regional water quality control
board or the State Water Resources Control Board to engage in
arbitration pursuant to this section or Section 25356.2 for any
enforcement action taken pursuant to Division 7 (commencing with
Section 13000) of the Water Code.
   (f) The costs of conducting the arbitration shall be borne by the
potentially responsible parties submitting to the arbitration
pursuant to subdivision (a), except that any filing fees, witness
fees, costs of discovery, or any other costs necessarily incurred by
one party shall not be shared by any other party.
   25356.4.  (a) After making an apportionment of liability among the
potentially responsible parties pursuant to Section 25356.3, the
panel shall prepare a draft arbitration decision which contains a
statement of reasons supporting the apportionment and shall circulate
the draft arbitration decision for at least 30 days for public
comment.  After review and consideration of any public comment, the
panel shall issue the final arbitration decision within 30 days after
the comment period.
   (b) Each potentially responsible party whose liability has been
apportioned by the panel is liable to the department or the regional
water quality control board for its apportioned share of the costs of
all removal and remedial actions at the site which is the subject of
the final remedial action plan issued pursuant to Section 25356.1.
The department or the regional water quality control board and one or
more potentially responsible parties may enter into a cleanup
agreement which is consistent with the remedial action plan and which
provides for the satisfaction of the liability of a potentially
responsible party by the party's performance of specified removal or
remedial actions at the site.
   (c) The moneys in the state account or the Hazardous Substance
Cleanup Fund may be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
to pay any share of those  potentially responsible parties who did
not submit to binding arbitration pursuant to Section 25356.3 or did
not otherwise agree to pay the costs of the removal and remedial
actions specified in the remedial action plan.
   (d) The department or the regional water quality control board
shall identify, and the Attorney General shall pursue recovery from,
those potentially responsible parties who have not submitted to
binding arbitration pursuant to Section 25356.3 or who have not
discharged their obligations required by the final arbitration
decision or the cleanup agreement.
   (e) Advances from the state account, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, shall be made available, where appropriate, to those
responsible parties who are required by a cleanup agreement to
perform specified removal or remedial actions pursuant to the
remedial action plan.  Moneys from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup
Fund may be expended by the department, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, to make advances, where appropriate, to responsible
parties who are required by a cleanup agreement to perform specified
removal or remedial actions pursuant to the remedial action plan, for
the purposes specified in Section 25385.6.
   25356.5.  The department shall include in the biennial report
specified in Section 25178 an accounting of all of the following:
   (a) The actual funds expended for each site listed during the
preceding two years pursuant to Section 25356.
   (b) Removal and remedial actions at hazardous substance release
sites pursuant to Section 25356.
   (c) The state's efforts to obtain available federal funds for the
purposes of this chapter.
   (d) Federal funds which have been obtained by, or committed to,
the state for purposes of this chapter.
   (e) The state's efforts to obtain contributions to removal or
remedial actions from potentially responsible parties.
   25356.6.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of state law or
any local ordinance or regulation, except as provided in subdivision
(b), to encourage the prompt and effective cleanup of hazardous
substance release sites, a potentially responsible party has no
additional civil liability to any governmental entity under state or
local law, for any prior acts or omissions associated with the
conditions addressed in the remedial action plan which is the subject
of the arbitration decision, if the potentially responsible party
has submitted to binding arbitration and has discharged its
obligations under the arbitration decision, either by paying that
party's apportioned share of the costs of all removal and remedial
actions to the department or the regional water quality control
board, or by performing the specified removal and remedial actions
pursuant to a cleanup agreement.  The release from liability
specified in this section is conditioned on complete implementation
of the remedial action plan, including, where appropriate, adequate
sampling, testing, and maintenance of the site to which the remedial
action plan is applicable to ensure that the level of cleanup
required is achieved and maintained.  However, this section does not
affect the liability of any person for costs recoverable under
Section 25352, unless these costs are specifically addressed in the
arbitration decision or cleanup agreement.  Where these costs are not
addressed in the arbitration decision or cleanup agreement, the
liability for these costs shall be determined pursuant to the
applicable sections of this chapter and may be apportioned among the
potentially responsible parties pursuant to Sections 25356.3 and
25356.4.
   (b) The department, the California regional water quality control
board, any party to the arbitration decision, or any party
substantially affected by the arbitration decision may petition the
panel to modify the apportionment of liability in an arbitration
decision.  Upon a showing of a material change in the facts known to
the parties to the arbitration decision at the time it was issued,
the panel shall modify the apportionment of liability specified in
the arbitration decision, as appropriate, to reflect these changed
facts.  Upon a showing of a material change in the facts known to the
department at the time it issued the final remedial action plan, or
the discovery of new facts, the department or regional board shall
modify the remedial action plan, as appropriate, to reflect new or
additional facts.  The arbitration panel shall then modify its
arbitration decision to reflect any modification of the remedial
action plan made by the department.
   (c) This section does not affect the existing rights of any
individual to recover civil damages or to obtain equitable relief
against any person, including a potentially responsible party, for
physical injury or property damage caused by the release of hazardous
substances at the site covered by the arbitration decision or at any
other location.
   (d) A party who has submitted to arbitration pursuant to this
article and whose liability has been apportioned by the arbitration
panel in an arbitration proceeding may seek indemnity from any other
person liable for the party's apportioned share of the removal and
remedial actions taken at a site which is the subject of the
arbitration decision, including any department, agency contractor, or
any other governmental agency.  A potentially responsible party who
does not submit to binding arbitration pursuant to this article, but
whose liability has been apportioned in the arbitration decision and
is subsequently found liable under  this chapter has no right to
indemnification for any removal or remedial action which is the
subject of the arbitration decision from any party to that
arbitration decision who has discharged its obligation under the
arbitration decision or the cleanup agreement.
   25356.7.  In order to encourage rapid resolution of differences
among responsible parties and to speed the cleanup of sites, and
notwithstanding any other provision of law, the following evidence is
admissible in a court of law only to show the good faith of the
parties who have discharged their obligations under an arbitration
decision issued, or cleanup agreement entered into, pursuant to
Section 25356.4 or that the following removal and remedial actions
specified in the remedial action plan were to be performed:
   (a) A preliminary allocation of responsibility pursuant to Section
25356.1.
   (b) The fact that any person has either participated or has not
participated in a panel arbitration proceeding.
   (c) The fact that any person has voluntarily implemented a
remedial action plan, regardless of whether the plan is final for
purposes of Section 25356.1.
   (d) Any finding of fact or conclusion of law by the panel,
including the apportionment of liability pursuant to Section 25356.3.

   (e) Admissions made during the arbitration proceeding.
   (f) Documents prepared by a party which has submitted to binding
arbitration if the documents are prepared after the remedial action
plan has been issued, and if the documents are prepared solely for
the arbitration.
   25356.8.  (a) Judicial review of the arbitration decision on the
apportionment of liability is limited to a showing of fraud by a
party to the arbitration proceeding or an abuse of discretion by the
panel, or both.
   (b) Judicial review of a decision by the department or the
regional water quality control board modifying the remedial action
plan pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25356.6 shall be
conducted pursuant to Section 1085 of the Code of Civil Procedure and
the standard of review shall be the same as that specified in
subdivision (f) of Section 25356.1.
   25356.9.  (a) The provisions of this chapter relating to the
preparation, approval, and issuance of remedial action plans and to
procedures for the apportionment of liability by the Hazardous
Substance Cleanup Arbitration Panel do not do either of the
following:
   (1) Apply to any actions taken pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing
with Section 25100).
   (2) Prohibit the department or the Attorney General, upon the
request of the department, from pursuing the remedies specified in
subdivision (a) of Section 25358.3 when the director determines that
there may be an imminent or substantial endangerment to the public
health or welfare or to the environment, because of a release or a
threatened release of a hazardous substance.
               (b) The department and the Attorney General may pursue
any existing legal, equitable, or administrative remedies, pursuant
to federal or state law, against any potentially responsible party
named in a remedial action plan if the party does not submit to
arbitration pursuant to Section 25356.3 or if the party has not
discharged that party's obligations under an arbitration decision or
cleanup agreement.
   25356.10.  The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
shall adopt, and may, from time to time, modify, revise, or repeal,
regulations, consistent with this article, to implement the
provisions of this article concerning arbitration proceedings.  The
regulations may include, but are not required to be limited to, all
of the following:
   (a) The method of initiating arbitration.
   (b) The place of hearing, based upon the convenience of the
parties.
   (c) Procedures for the selection of neutral arbitrators.
   (d) Procedure for conducting hearings.
   (e) The providing of experts to assist the arbitrators if
assistance is needed.
   (f) Procedures for reimbursing the expenses which the panel incurs
in conducting arbitrations.
   25357.  Expenditures from the state account shall not be made in
excess of the total amount of money in the state account at any one
time.  Expenditures in excess of such amount may be made only when
additional money is collected or otherwise added to the state
account.
   25357.5.  (a) In any judicial action under this chapter, judicial
review of any issues concerning the adequacy of any response action
taken or ordered by the department shall be limited to the
administrative record.  Otherwise applicable principles of
administrative law shall govern whether any supplemental materials
may be considered by the court.
   (b) If the court finds that the selection of the response action
was not in accordance with law, the court shall award only the
response costs or damages that are not inconsistent with the National
Contingency Plan, as specified in Part 300 (commencing with Section
300.1) of Subchapter J of Chapter I of Title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, and any other relief that is consistent with the
National Contingency Plan.
   (c) In reviewing an action brought by the department under this
chapter, in which alleged procedural errors by the department are
raised as a defense, the court may impose costs or damages only if
the errors were serious and related to matters of central relevance
to the action, so that the action would have been significantly
changed had the errors not been made.
   25358.  The state shall actively seek to obtain all federal funds
to which it is entitled under the federal act and shall take all
actions necessary to enter into contractual or cooperative agreements
under Sections 104(c)(3) and 104(d)(1) of the federal act (42 U.S.C.
  Sec.  9604(c)(3) and 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604(d)(1)).
   25358.1.  (a) The department, a representative of the department,
or any person designated by the director may take the actions
specified in this section only if there is a reasonable basis to
believe that there may be a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance, and only for the purpose of determining under
this chapter the need for a response action, the choosing or taking
of a response action, or otherwise for the purpose of enforcing this
chapter.
   (b) Any officer or employee of the department, a representative of
the director, or a person designated by the director may require any
potentially responsible party, or any person who has, or may have,
acquired information relevant to any of the following matters in the
course of a commercial, ownership, or contractual relationship with
any potentially responsible party, to furnish, upon reasonable
notice, information or documents relating to the following matters:
   (1) The identification, nature, and quantity of materials which
have been, or are, generated, treated, stored, or disposed of at a
hazardous substance release site or which have been, or are,
transported to a hazardous substance release site.
   (2) The nature or extent of a release or a threatened release of a
hazardous substance at, or from, a hazardous substance release site.

   (c) A person who is required to provide information pursuant to
subdivision (b) shall, in accordance with subdivision (h), allow the
officer, employee, representative, or designee, upon reasonable
notice and at reasonable times, to have access to, and copy, all
records relating to the hazardous substances for purposes of
assisting the department in determining the need for an action in
response to a release or threatened release pursuant to this chapter.

   (d) Any officer or employee of the department, representative of
the director, or person designated by the director may, in accordance
with subdivision (h), enter, at reasonable times, any of the
following properties:
   (1) Any nonresidential establishment or other place or property
where any hazardous substances may be, or have been, produced,
stored, treated, disposed of, or transported from.
   (2) Any nonresidential establishment or other place or property
from which, or to which, a hazardous substance has been, or may have
been, released.
   (3) Any nonresidential establishment or other place or property
where a hazardous substance release is, or may be, threatened.
   (4) Any nonresidential establishment or other place or property
where entry is needed to determine the need for a response action, or
the appropriate remedial action, to effectuate a response action
under this chapter.
   (5) Any residential place or property which, if it were a
nonresidential establishment or other place or property, would
otherwise meet the criteria described in paragraphs (1) to (4),
inclusive, if the department, representative, or person designated by
the director is able to establish, based upon reasonably available
evidence, that hazardous substances have been released onto or under
the residential place or real property and if entry is made only at
reasonable times and after reasonable notification to the owners and
occupants.
   (e) Any officer or employee of the department, representative of
the director, or person designated by the director may, in accordance
with subdivision (h), carry out any of the following activities:
   (1) Inspect and obtain samples from any establishment or other
place or property specified in subdivision (d) or from any location
of any suspected hazardous substance.
   (2) Inspect and obtain samples of any substances from any
establishment or place or property specified in subdivision (d).
   (3) Inspect and obtain samples of any containers or labeling for
the suspected hazardous substances, and samples of the soil,
vegetation, air, water, and biota on the premises.
   (4) Set up and maintain monitoring equipment for the purpose of
assessing or measuring the actual or potential migration of hazardous
substances.
   (5) Survey and determine the topographic, geologic, and
hydrogeologic features of the land.
   (6) Photograph any equipment, sample, activity, or environmental
condition described in paragraphs (2) to (5) inclusive.
   (f) (1) If photographs are to be taken pursuant to paragraph (6)
of subdivision (e), the department shall do all of the following:
   (A) Comply with all procedures established pursuant to subdivision
(b) of Section 25358.2.
   (B) Notify the person whose facility is photographed prior to
public disclosure of the photographs.
   (C) Upon the request of the person owning the facility, submit a
copy of any photograph to the person for the purpose of determining
whether trade secret information, as defined in Section 25358.2, or
facility security, would be revealed by the photograph.
   (2) "Disclosure," as used in Section 25358.2, for purposes of this
paragraph, does not include the review of the photograph by a court
of competent jurisdiction or by an administrative law judge.  A court
or judge may review the photograph in camera.
   (g) An officer, employee, representative, or designee who enters a
place, establishment, or property pursuant to this section shall
make a reasonable effort to inform the owner or the owners'
authorized representative of the inspection and shall provide split
samples to the owner or the representative upon request.
   (h) If the owner or the owner's authorized representative does not
voluntarily grant access to a place, establishment, or property
pursuant to this section, the officer, employee, representative, or
designee shall first obtain a warrant pursuant to Title 13
(commencing with Section 1822.50) of Part 3 of the Code of Civil
Procedure.  However, if there is an emergency posing an immediate
threat to public health and safety, the officer, employee,
representative, or designee may enter the place, establishment, or
property without the consent of the owner or owner's authorized
representative and without the issuance of a warrant.
   (i) The department, and any person authorized by the department to
enter upon any lands for the purpose of taking removal or remedial
action pursuant to this chapter, shall not be held liable, in either
a civil or criminal proceeding, for trespass or for any other acts
which are necessary to carry out the corrective action.
   25358.2.  (a) "Trade secrets," as used in this section, may
include, but are not limited to, any formula, plan, pattern, process,
tool, mechanism, compound, procedure, production data, or
compilation of information which is not patented, which is known only
to certain individuals within a commercial concern who are using it
to fabricate, produce, develop, or compound an article of trade or a
service having commercial value, and which gives its user an
opportunity to obtain a business advantage over competitors who do
not know or use it.
   (b) The department may disclose trade secrets received by the
department pursuant to this chapter to authorized representatives,
contractors, or other governmental agencies only in connection with
the department's responsibilities pursuant to this chapter.  The
department shall establish procedures to ensure that these trade
secrets are utilized only in connection with these responsibilities
and are not otherwise disseminated without the consent of the person
who provided the information to the department.
   (c) The department may also make available to the Environmental
Protection Agency any and all information required by law to be
furnished to that agency.  The sharing of information between the
department and that agency pursuant to this section does not
constitute a waiver by the department or any affected person of any
privilege or confidentiality provided by law which pertains to the
information.
   (d) Any person providing information pursuant to subdivision (a)
of Section 25358.1 shall, at the time of its submission, identify all
information which the person believes is a trade secret.  Any
information or record not identified as a trade secret is available
to the public, unless exempted from disclosure by other provisions of
law.
   (e) Any person who knowingly and willfully disseminates
information protected by this section or procedures established by
the department pursuant to subdivision (b) shall, upon conviction, be
punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000),
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by both
that fine and imprisonment.
   25358.3.  (a) Whenever the director determines that  there may be
an imminent or substantial endangerment to the public health or
welfare or to the environment, because of a release or a threatened
release of a hazardous substance, the director may do any or all of
the following:
   (1) Order any responsible party or parties to take or pay for
appropriate removal or remedial action necessary to protect the
public health and safety and the environment.  No order under this
section shall be made to an owner of real property solely on the
basis of that ownership as specified in Sections 101(35) and 107(b)
of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9601(35) and 9607(b)).  The
director shall give the responsible party an opportunity to assert
all defenses to the order.
   (2) Take or contract for any necessary removal or remedial action.

   (3) Request the Attorney General to secure such relief as may be
necessary from the responsible party or parties to abate the danger
or threat.  The superior court of the county in which the threat or
danger occurs shall have jurisdiction to grant the relief which the
public interest and equities of the case may require to protect
public health and welfare and the environment.  Upon a showing by the
department that a release or threatened release of a hazardous
substance has occurred or is occurring, and that there may be an
imminent or substantial endangerment to the public health and safety
or to the environment, the court may grant a temporary restraining
order or a preliminary or permanent injunction pursuant to
subdivision (e).
   (b) When the director determines that a release of a hazardous
substance has occurred or is about to occur, the director may do any
or all of the following:
   (1) Undertake those investigations, monitoring, surveys, testing,
and other information gathering necessary to identify the existence,
source, nature, and extent of the hazardous substances involved and
the extent of danger to the public  health or environment.
   (2) Undertake those planning, legal, fiscal, economic,
engineering, architectural, and other studies or investigations which
are necessary or appropriate to plan and direct response actions, to
recover the cost of those actions, and to enforce this chapter.
   (c) Whenever there is a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance into the environment, the director may take or
contract for any necessary removal or remedial action and may take or
contract for any actions authorized by subdivision (b), in
compliance with the provisions of this chapter, including, but not
limited to, subdivision (b) of Section 25355.
   (d) Any person bidding for a contract specified in subdivision (c)
shall submit a disclosure statement, as specified by Section
25112.5, except for a federal, state, or local agency.  The director
may prohibit a person from bidding on such a contract if the director
makes any of the following determinations:
   (1) The director determines, in writing, that the bidder, or, if
the bidder is a business entity, any trustee, officer, director,
partner, or any person holding more than 5 percent of the equity in
or debt liability of that business entity, has engaged in activities
resulting in any federal or state conviction which are significantly
related to the fitness of the bidder to perform the bidder's duties
or activities under the contract.  For purposes of this paragraph,
"conviction" means a plea or verdict of guilty or a conviction
following a plea of nolo contendere.  Any action that the department
may take pursuant to this subdivision relating to the department's
refusal to permit a person to bid on the contract may be based upon a
conviction for which any of the following has occurred:
   (A) The time for appeal has elapsed.
   (B) The judgment of conviction has been affirmed on appeal.
   (C) Any order granting probation is made suspending the imposition
of sentence, notwithstanding a subsequent order pursuant to Section
1203.4 of the Penal Code permitting that person to withdraw the plea
of guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty, or setting aside the
verdict of guilty, or dismissing the accusation, information, or
indictment.
   (2) The director determines, in writing, that the bidder, or, if
the bidder is a business entity, any trustee, officer, director,
partner, or any person holding more than 5 percent of the equity in
or debt liability of that business entity, has violated or failed to
comply with this chapter or Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section
25100) or Chapter 6.7 (commencing with Section 25280) of this
division, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Division 7
(commencing with Section 13000) of the Water Code), the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec.
6901 et seq.), the Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization
Act of 1994, as amended (49 U.S.C. Sec. 5101 et seq.), the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
of 1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec.  9601 et seq.), the Toxic
Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C.  Sec. 2601 et seq.), or any other
equivalent federal or state statute or any requirement or regulation
adopted pursuant thereto relating to the generation, transportation,
treatment, storage, recycling, disposal, or handling of a hazardous
waste, as defined in Section 25117, a hazardous substance, as defined
in Section 25316, or a hazardous material, as defined in Section 353
of the Vehicle Code, if the violation  or failure to comply shows a
repeating or recurring pattern or may pose a threat to public health
or safety or the environment.
   (3) The director determines, in writing, that the bidder has had a
license, permit, or registration for the generation, transportation,
treatment, storage, recycling, disposal, or handling of hazardous
waste or hazardous substances revoked or suspended.
   (e) Whenever there is a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance, the director may request the Attorney General to
secure such relief as may be necessary from the responsible party or
parties to abate the release or threatened release.  The superior
court of the county in which the release or threatened release occurs
has jurisdiction to grant that relief which the public interest and
equities of the case may require to protect the public health and
safety and the environment.  Upon a showing by the department that a
release or threatened release of a hazardous substance has occurred
or is occurring, and that there may be an imminent or substantial
endangerment to the public health and safety or to the environment,
the court may grant a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or
permanent injunction.
   (f) Upon the failure of any person to comply with any order issued
by the department pursuant to this section or Section 25355.5, the
director may request the Attorney General to petition the superior
court for the issuance of an injunction requiring that person to
comply with the order.  The superior court shall have jurisdiction to
grant a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent
injunction.
   (g) In any civil action brought pursuant to this chapter in which
a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent
injunction is sought, the department shall prove that the defendant
is a responsible party and that there is a release or threatened
release of a hazardous substance.  It shall not be necessary to
allege or prove at any stage of the proceeding that irreparable
damage will occur should the temporary restraining order or the
preliminary or permanent injunction not be issued, or that the remedy
at law is inadequate; and the temporary restraining order or the
preliminary or permanent injunction shall issue without those
allegations and without that proof.
   25358.4.  The analysis of any material that is required to
demonstrate compliance with this chapter shall be performed by a
laboratory accredited by the department pursuant to Article 3
(commencing with Section 100825) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division
101.
   25358.5.  Any removal or remedial action taken or contracted by
the department pursuant to Section 25354 or subdivision (a) of
Section 25358.3 shall be exempt from all of the following provisions:

   (a) State Contract Act (Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 10100)
of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code).
   (b) Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 4525) of Division 5 of
Title 1 of the Government Code.
   (c) Article 5 (commencing with Section 10355) of Chapter 2 of Part
2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code.
   25358.6.  (a) The department may prequalify bidders for remedial
or removal actions taken pursuant to Section 25354 or subdivision (a)
of Section 25358.3.  The department may reject the bid of any
prospective bidder that has not been prequalified.
   (b) To prequalify bidders, the department shall adopt and apply a
uniform system of rating bidders.  In order to obtain information for
such rating, the department may require from prospective bidders
answers to questions, including, but not limited to, questions about
the bidder's financial ability, the bidder's experience in removal
and remedial action involving hazardous substances, the bidder's past
safety record, and the bidder's past performance on federal, state,
or local government projects.  The department may also require
prospective bidders to submit financial statements.
   (c) The department shall utilize the business financial data and
information submitted by a bidder pursuant to subdivision (b) only
for the purposes of prequalifying bidders pursuant to this section
and shall not otherwise disseminate this data or information.
   (d) The system of rating bidders may be adopted by the department
as emergency regulations in accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code, and for purposes of that chapter, when these
regulations are adopted as emergency regulations pursuant to Section
11349.6 of the Government Code, the regulations shall be deemed to be
necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health
and safety, and general welfare.  It is the intent of the
Legislature that emergency regulations adopted pursuant to this
subdivision shall remain in effect until the regulations are adopted
as final regulations, pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code.
   25358.7.  (a) The department or the regional board, as
appropriate, shall take the actions specified in this section to
provide an opportunity for meaningful public participation in
response actions undertaken for sites listed pursuant to Section
25356.
   (b) The department, or the regional board, as appropriate, shall
conduct a baseline community survey as soon as possible after taking
an action to investigate or remediate a hazardous substance release
site listed pursuant to Section 25356.  The purpose of this survey
shall be to inform the public, and in particular, persons living in
close proximity to the site, of the existence of the site and the
department's or regional board's intentions to conduct an
investigation and a remedial action, to determine the level of public
interest and desire for involvement in this process, and to solicit
and evaluate concerns and information regarding the site from the
affected community.  Based on the results of the baseline survey, the
department or regional board shall develop a public participation
work plan that shall establish appropriate communication and outreach
measures commensurate with the level of interest expressed by survey
respondents.  The public participation work plan shall be updated as
necessary to reflect any significant changes in the degree of public
interest as the site investigation and cleanup process moves toward
completion.
   (c) The department or regional board shall provide any person
affected by a response action undertaken for sites listed pursuant to
Section 25356 with the opportunity to participate in the department'
s or regional board's decisionmaking process regarding that action by
taking all of the following actions:
   (1) Provide that person with access to information which the
department or regional board is required to release pursuant to the
California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section
6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code), relating to
the action, except for the following:
   (A) Trade secrets, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section
25358.2.
   (B) Business financial data and information, as specified in
subdivision (c) of Section 25358.6.
   (C) Information which the department or regional board is
prohibited from releasing pursuant to any state or federal law.
   (2) The department or regional board shall provide factsheets,
based on the expressed level of public interest, regarding plans to
conduct the major elements of the site investigation and response
actions.  The factsheets shall present the relevant information in
nontechnical language and shall be detailed enough to provide
interested persons with a good understanding of the planned
activities.  The factsheets shall be made available in languages
other than English if appropriate.
   (3) Provide the person notification, upon request, of any public
meetings held by the department or regional board concerning the
action.
   (4) Provide the person the opportunity to attend and to
participate at those public meetings.
   (5) Based on the results of the baseline community survey, the
department or regional board shall provide opportunities for public
involvement at key stages of the response action process, including
the health risk assessment, the preliminary assessment, the site
inspection, the remedial investigation, and the feasibility study
stages of the process.  If the department or regional board
determines that public meetings or other opportunities for public
comment are not appropriate at any of the stages listed in this
section, the department or regional board shall provide notice of
that decision to the affected community.
   (d) The department or regional board shall develop and make
available to the public a schedule of activities for each site for
which remedial action is expected to be taken by the department or
regional board pursuant to this chapter and shall make available to
the public any plan provided to the department or regional board by
any responsible party, unless the department is prohibited from
releasing the information pursuant to any state or federal law.
   (e) In making decisions regarding the methods to be used for
removal or remedial actions taken pursuant to this chapter, the
department  or regional board shall incorporate or respond in writing
to the advice of persons affected by the actions.
   (f) This section does not apply to emergency actions taken
pursuant to Section 25354.
   25358.7.1.  (a) At each site, a community advisory group may be
established by the affected community to review any response action
and comment on the response action to be conducted in that community.
  The department or regional board shall regularly communicate, and
confer as appropriate,                                          with
the community advisory committee.  The department or regional board
shall also advise local environmental regulatory agencies and other
appropriate local agencies of planned response actions and provide
opportunities for review and comment.  If the department or regional
board, whichever is overseeing a response action, receives a petition
signed by at least 50 members of a community affected by the
response action at a site or a resolution adopted by the legislative
body of the jurisdiction within which the response action has been or
will be initiated, the department or regional board shall assist the
petitioners or the legislative body to establish a community
advisory group to review the response action at the site.
   (b) To the extent possible, the composition of each community
advisory group shall reflect the composition of the affected
community and the diversity of interests of the community by
including all of the following types of individuals on the community
advisory group:
   (1) Persons owning or residing on property located near the
hazardous substance release site or in an adjacent community, or
other persons who may be directly affected by the response action.
   (2) Individuals from the local business community.
   (3) Local political or government agency representatives.
   (4) Local citizen, civic, environmental, or public interest group
members residing in the community.
   (c) The following entities may participate in community advisory
group meetings in order to provide information and technical
expertise:
   (1) The department or regional boards.
   (2) Representatives of local environmental regulatory agencies.
   (3) The potentially responsible parties or other persons who are
conducting the response action.
   (d) The existence of a community advisory group shall not diminish
any other obligation of the department or regional board with
respect to public participation requirements specified in Section
25358.7.  Nothing in this section shall affect the status of any
citizen advisory group formed before the enactment of this section, a
federal Department of Defense Restoration Advisory Board, or a
federal Department of Energy Advisory Board.
   25358.7.2.  (a) On or before July 1, 2000, the department and the
State Water Resources Control Board shall establish two community
service offices, one to serve northern California and the other to
serve southern California.  With regard to sites listed pursuant to
Section 25356 where the department or regional board is taking action
to investigate or remediate the site, the community assistance
offices shall facilitate communication between the department or
regional board, the responsible parties, and the affected community,
including any community advisory group that may have been formed in
the community where the hazardous substance release site is located.

   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (c) of Section 25390.3, the
department and, if appropriate, the State Water Resources Control
Board shall expend a total of four hundred thousand dollars
($400,000) per year from the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund
established pursuant to Article 7.8 (commencing with Section 25390)
on the operation of the community service offices established
pursuant to this section.  The offices shall use these funds to
provide direct technical and logistical support to any community
advisory group established pursuant to Section 25358.7.1.  Funds
allocated pursuant to this subdivision shall supplement, and not
supplant, any funds expended for the purposes of developing and
implementing other public participation activities required to be
undertaken pursuant to this chapter, including, but not limited to,
activities undertaken pursuant to the National Contingency Plan or
the public participation workplan required to be adopted by the
department pursuant to Section 25358.7.
   (c) The State Water Resources Control Board may contract with the
department to provide this service on behalf of a regional board if
the State Water Resources Control Board finds that it would be more
practical and economical to do so.
   (d) In implementing this section, the department and the regional
boards are not obligated to expend funds beyond the amounts
appropriated in any fiscal year for purposes of developing and
implementing public participation activities required by other
provisions of this chapter unless the Orphan Share Reimbursement
Trust Fund contains funding at the level specified in subdivision
(b).
   25358.8.  A community advisory group established pursuant to
Section 25358.7.1 may request, in writing, and a potentially
responsible party or parties may fund, a technical assistance grant
for a site for the purpose of providing technical assistance to the
community advisory group.
   25358.9.  (a) To the extent consistent with the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended, (42 U.S.C. Sec.
6901 et seq.), the department may exclude any portion of a response
action conducted entirely onsite from the hazardous waste facility
permit requirements of Section 25201 if both of the following apply:

   (1) The removal or remedial action is carried out pursuant to a
removal action work plan or a remedial action plan prepared pursuant
to Section 25356.1.
   (2) The removal action work plan or the remedial action plan
requires that the response action complies with all laws, rules,
regulations, standards, and requirements, criteria, or limitations
applicable to the construction, operation, and closure of the type of
facility at the hazardous substance release site and with any other
condition imposed by the department as necessary to protect public
health and safety and the environment.
   (b) The department may enforce in the court for the county in
which a response action exempted pursuant to subdivision (a) is
located any federal or state law, rule, regulation, standard,
requirements, criteria, or limitation with which the remedial or
removal action is required to comply.  Any consent decree entered
into pursuant to an enforcement action authorized by this subdivision
shall require the parties to attempt expeditiously to informally
resolve any disagreements concerning the implementation of the
response action with the appropriate federal and state agencies and
shall provide for administrative enforcement.  The consent decree
shall stipulate that the penalty for violation of the consent decree
shall be an amount not more than twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) per day, which may be enforced by the state.  These
penalties do not impair or affect the authority of the court to order
compliance with the specific terms of the consent decree.
   25359.  (a) Any person who is liable for a release, or threat of a
release, of hazardous substances and who fails, without sufficient
cause, as determined by the court, to properly provide a removal or
remedial action upon order of the director or the court, pursuant to
Section 25358.3, is liable to the department for damages equal to
three times the amount of any costs incurred by the state account
pursuant to this chapter as a result of the failure to take proper
action.
   (b) No treble damages shall be imposed under this section against
an owner of real property who did not generate, treat, transport,
store, or dispose of any hazardous substance on, in, or at the
facility located on that real property, as specified in Sections 101
(35) and 107(b) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9601(35) and 9607
(b)).
   25359.1.  There shall be no recovery of punitive damages under
Section 25359 for an injury to or loss of natural resources that
occurred wholly before September 25, 1981.  This section shall not be
construed as precluding the recovery of punitive damages for injury
to or loss of natural resources in an action brought pursuant to any
other provision of law.
   25359.2.  Any person subject to a removal or remedial action order
or other order issued pursuant to Section 25355.5 or 25358.3 who
does not comply with that order without sufficient cause shall be
subject to a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000) for each day of noncompliance.  Liability under
this section may be imposed in a civil action or liability may be
imposed administratively pursuant to Section 25359.3.
   25359.3.  (a) The department may issue a complaint to any person
subject to a penalty pursuant to Sections 25359.2 and 25359.4.  The
complaint shall allege the acts or failures to act that constitute a
basis for liability and the amount of the proposed penalty.  The
complaint shall be served by personal service or certified mail and
shall inform the party so served of the right to a hearing.  Any
person served with a complaint pursuant to this subdivision may,
within 45 days after service of the complaint, request a hearing by
filing a notice of defense with the department.  A notice of defense
is deemed to be filed within a 45-day period if it is postmarked
within the 45-day period.  If no notice of defense is filed within 45
days after service of the complaint, the department shall issue an
order setting liability in the amount proposed in the complaint,
unless the department and the party have entered into a settlement
agreement, in which case the department shall issue an order setting
liability in the amount specified in the settlement agreement.  Where
the party has not filed a notice of defense or where the department
and the party have entered into a settlement agreement, the order
shall not be subject to review by any court or agency.
   (b) Any hearing required under this section shall be conducted in
accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and the department
shall have all powers granted by those provisions.  In making a
determination, the administrative law judge shall consider the
nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violation, the
violator's past and present efforts to prevent, abate, or clean up
conditions posing a threat to the public health and safety or the
environment, the violator's ability to pay the proposed penalty, and
the prophylactic effect that imposition of the proposed penalty will
have on both the violator and on the regulated community as a whole.

   (c) All penalties collected under this section and Section 25359.2
shall be deposited in the Hazardous Substance Account and shall be
available for expenditure by the department upon appropriation by the
Legislature.
   25359.4.  (a) A person shall not release, or allow or cause a
release of, a reportable quantity of a hazardous substance into the
environment that is not authorized or permitted pursuant to state
law.
   (b) Any release of a reportable quantity of hazardous substance
shall be reported to the department in writing within 30 days of
discovery, unless any of the following apply:
   (1) The release is permitted or in the permit process.
   (2) The release is authorized by state law.
   (3) The release requires immediate reporting to the Office of
Emergency Services pursuant to Section 11002 or 11004 of Title 42 of
the United States Code, or pursuant to Section 25507.
   (4) The release has previously been reported to the department or
the Office of Emergency Services.
   (5) The release occurred prior to January 1, 1994.
   (c) For the purposes of this section, "reportable quantity" means
either of the following:
   (1) The quantity of a hazardous substance established in Part 302
(commencing with Section 302.1) of Title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, the release of which requires notification pursuant to
that part.
   (2) Any quantity of a hazardous substance that is not reportable
pursuant to paragraph (1), but that may pose a significant threat to
public health and safety or to the environment.  The department may
establish guidelines for determining which releases are reportable
under this paragraph.
   (d) The owner of property on which a reportable release has
occurred and any person who releases, or causes a reportable release
and who fails to make the written report required by subdivision (b),
shall be liable for a penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand
dollars ($25,000) for each separate violation and for each day that a
violation continues.  Each day on which the released hazardous
substance remains is a separate violation unless the person has
either filed the report or is in compliance with an order issued by a
local, state, or federal agency with regard to the release.
   (e) Liability under this section may be imposed in a civil action
or may be administratively imposed by the department pursuant to
Section 25359.3.
   (f) If the violation of subdivision (b) results in, or
significantly contributes to, an emergency, including, but not
limited to, a fire, to which a county, city, or district is required
to respond, the responsible party may be assessed the full cost of
the emergency response by the city, county, or district.
   25359.4.5.  (a) A responsible party who has entered into an
agreement with the department and is in compliance with the terms of
that agreement, or who is in compliance with an order issued by the
department, may seek, in addition to contribution, treble damages
from any contribution defendant who has failed or refused to comply
with any order or agreement, was named in the order or agreement, and
is subject to contribution.  A contribution defendant from whom
treble damages are sought in a contribution action shall not be
assessed treble damages by any court where the contribution
defendant, for sufficient cause, as determined by the court, failed
to comply with an agreement or with an order issued by the
department, or where the contribution defendant is an owner of real
property who did not generate, treat, transport, store, or dispose of
the hazardous substance on, in, or at the facility located on that
real property, as specified in Sections 101 (35) and 107 (b) of the
federal act (42 U.S.C. Secs. 9601 (35) and 9607 (b)), or where the
principles of fundamental fairness would be violated, as determined
by the court.  A party seeking treble damages pursuant to this
section shall show that the party, the department, or another entity
provided notice, by means of personal service or certified mail, of
the order or agreement to the contribution defendant from whom the
party seeks treble damages.
   (b) One-half of any treble damages awarded pursuant to this
section shall be paid to the department, for deposit in the Hazardous
Substance Account.  Nothing in this subdivision affects the rights
of any party to seek contribution pursuant to any other statute or
under common law.
   (c) A contribution defendant from whom treble damages are sought
pursuant to this section shall be deemed to have acted willfully with
respect to the conduct that gave rise to this liability for purposes
of Section 533 of the Insurance Code.
   25359.5.  (a) After making a determination, based upon a
preliminary site assessment that there has been a release of a
hazardous substance on, under, or into the land on a site, the
department or a county health officer shall order the property owner
to secure the site if all of the following conditions apply to that
site:
   (1) The release does not comply with the terms of a current permit
or interim status document or regulation of the department.
   (2) The site poses a public health risk if human contact is made
with the hazardous waste or the surrounding contaminated area.
   (3) There is a likelihood of human or domestic animal contact.
   (b) The order to secure the site shall require, within five days
after receiving notification of the order, the posting of the site
with signs.  The order shall also require, within five days after
receiving notification of the order, that the site be enclosed with a
fence, unless it is physically and economically infeasible or unless
the fencing is unnecessary because it will not alleviate the danger
to the public health.
   (c) If fencing is ordered, the fences shall be maintained at the
site to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to the site.
  The signs shall be maintained and shall meet all of the following
requirements:
   (1) The signs shall be bilingual, appropriate to the local area,
and may include international symbols, as required by the department.

   (2) The signs shall have lettering which is legible from a
distance of at least 25 feet.
   (3) The signs shall read:  "Caution:  Hazardous Substance Area,
Unauthorized Persons Keep Out" and shall have the name and phone
number of the department or the county health officer that ordered
the posting.
   (4) The signs shall be visible from the surrounding contaminated
area and posted at each route of entry into the site, including those
routes which are likely to be used by unauthorized persons, at
access roads leading to the site, and facing navigable waterways
where appropriate.
   (5) The signs shall be of a material able to withstand the
elements.
   (d) A property owner who fails to comply with an order of the
department or the county health officer is subject to a civil penalty
of up to twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).  In determining the
amount of a civil penalty to be imposed, the court shall consider
all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to, the
economic assets of the property owner and whether the property owner
has acted in good faith.
   If the property owner fails to secure and post the site, the
department or the county health officer shall secure and post the
site pursuant to subdivision (b) within 30 days of the expiration of
the five-day period and shall seek recovery of the costs of that
securing and posting from the property owner.  If the site is an
abandoned site, as defined in Section 25359.6, if the site cannot be
traced to a specific owner, or if the owner has been declared
bankrupt, the department or the county health officer shall secure
and post the site, using any source of funds, pursuant to subdivision
(b).
   (e) The department or the county health officer shall advise other
agencies on the public health risks and the need for fencing and
posting of sites when those agencies confirm the release of a
hazardous substance pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (f) The remedies and penalties specified in this section and
Section 25359.6 are in addition to, and do not affect, any other
remedies, enforcement actions, requirements, or penalties otherwise
authorized by law.
   25359.6.  (a) The director shall notify, within 20 working days,
each of the appropriate county health officers as to all the
potential abandoned sites of which the department has knowledge or
which the department is investigating for releases of hazardous
substances that may have occurred or might be occurring at abandoned
sites.  The county health officers may request quarterly updates on
the status of the investigations of these sites.
   As used in this section, "abandoned site" means an inactive
disposal, treatment, or storage facility which cannot, with
reasonable effort, be traced to a specific owner, a site whose owner
has been determined bankrupt, or a location where a hazardous
substance has been illegally disposed.
   (b) Within 10 working days of the identification of an abandoned
site, the department or a county health officer shall notify the
other agency of the status of the site.  The department and the
county health officer shall inform the other agency of orders to
fence and post these sites and the status of compliance with those
orders.  The department or the county health officers may request
quarterly updates of the testing, enforcement action, and remedial or
removal actions that are proposed or ongoing.
   25359.7.  (a) Any owner of nonresidential real property who knows,
or has reasonable cause to believe, that any release of hazardous
substance has come to be located on or beneath that real property
shall, prior to the sale, lease, or rental of the real property by
that owner, give written notice of that condition to the buyer,
lessee, or renter of the real property.  Failure of the owner to
provide written notice when required by this subdivision to the
buyer, lessee, or renter shall subject the owner to actual damages
and any other remedies provided by law.  In addition, where the owner
has actual knowledge of the presence of any release of a material
amount of a hazardous substance and knowingly and willfully fails to
provide written notice to the buyer, lessee, or renter, as required
by this subdivision, the owner is liable for a civil penalty not to
exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each separate violation.
   (b) Any lessee or renter of real property who knows or has
reasonable cause to believe that any release of a hazardous substance
has come or will come to be located on or beneath that real property
shall, within a reasonable period of time, either prior to the
release or following the discovery by the lessee or renter of the
presence or believed presence of the hazardous substance release,
give written notice of that condition to the owner of the real
property or to the lessor under the lessee's or renter's lease or
rental agreement.
   (1) A lessee or renter who fails to provide written notice when
required by this subdivision to the owner or lessor is subject to
actual damages and any other remedy provided by law.
   (2) If the lessee or renter has knowledge of the presence of a
release of a material amount of a hazardous substance, or of a
hazardous substance release that is required to be reported to a
state or local agency pursuant to law, on or under the real property
leased or rented by the lessee or renter and knowingly and willfully
fails to provide written notice when required by this subdivision to
the owner or lessor, both of the following shall apply:
   (A) The failure is deemed to constitute a default, upon the owner'
s or lessor's written notice to the lessee or renter, under the
lessee's or renter's lease or rental agreement, except that this
subparagraph does not apply to lessees and renters of property used
exclusively for residential purposes.
   (B) The lessee or renter is liable for a civil penalty not to
exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each separate violation.
   (3) A lessee or renter may cure a default under the lessee's or
renter's lease or rental agreement which resulted from a violation of
this subdivision, by promptly commencing and completing the removal
of, or taking other appropriate remedial action with respect to, the
hazardous substance release.  The removal or remedial action shall be
conducted in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations and
in a manner which is reasonably acceptable to, and which is approved
in writing by, the owner or lessor.  This paragraph does not relieve
the lessee or renter of any liability for actual damages or for any
civil penalty for a violation of this subdivision.

      Article 6.  Recovery Actions

   25360.  (a) Any costs incurred  by the department or regional
board in carrying out this chapter shall be recoverable pursuant to
state or federal law by the Attorney General, upon the request of the
department or regional board, from the liable person or persons.
The amount of any response action costs that may be recovered
pursuant to this section shall include interest on any amount paid.
The interest on amounts paid from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup
Fund shall be calculated at a rate equal to the interest rate of the
bonds sold pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 25385)
and interest on any amount paid from the state account or the Site
Remediation Account shall be calculated at the rate of return earned
on investment in the Surplus Money Investment Fund pursuant to
Section 16475 of the Government Code.
   (b) A person who is liable for costs incurred at a site shall have
the liability reduced by any reimbursements that were actually paid
by that person pursuant to this chapter in connection with that site,
including any reimbursements paid pursuant to Section 25343.
   (c) The amount of cost determined pursuant to this section shall
be recoverable at the discretion of the department, either in a
separate action or by way of intervention as of right in an action
for contribution or indemnity.  Nothing in this section deprives a
party of any defense that the party may have.
   (d) Money recovered by the Attorney General pursuant to this
section shall be deposited in the state account, except that, if the
costs incurred were paid from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund,
the Attorney General shall deposit the amounts recovered into the
Hazardous Substance Clearing Account.  Money deposited in the
Hazardous Substance Clearing Account pursuant to this section are
available to pay the principal of, and interest on, bonds sold
pursuant to Article 7.5 (commencing with Section 25385).
   25360.1.  Any monetary obligation to the department pursuant to
Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) or this chapter shall be
subject to interest from the date of the demand at the same rate of
return earned on investment in the Surplus Money Investment Fund
pursuant to Section 16475 of the Government Code, except the
department may waive the interest if the obligation is satisfied
within 60 days from the date of invoice.
   25360.2.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions apply:
   (1) "Owner" means either (A) the owner of property who occupies a
single-family residence constructed on the property, or (B) the owner
of common areas within a residential common interest development who
owns those common areas for the benefit of the residential
homeowners.  This paragraph does not include the developer of the
common interest development.
   (2) "Property" means either (A) real property of five acres or
less which is zoned for, and on which has been constructed, a
single-family residence, or (B) common areas within a residential
common interest development.
   (b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, an
owner of property that is the site of a hazardous substance release
is presumed to have no liability pursuant to this chapter for either
of the following:
   (A) A hazardous substance release that has occurred on the
property.
   (B) A release of a hazardous substance to groundwater underlying
the property if the release occurred at a site other than the
property.
   (2) The presumption may be rebutted as provided in subdivision
(d).
   (c) An action for recovery of costs or expenditures incurred from
the state account or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund pursuant to
                                                  this chapter in
response to a hazardous substance release shall not be brought
against an owner of property unless the department first certifies
that, in the opinion of the department, one of the following applies:

   (1) The hazardous substance release that occurred on the property
occurred after the owner acquired the property.
   (2) The hazardous substance release that occurred on the property
occurred before the owner acquired the property and at the time of
acquisition the owner knew or had reason to know of the hazardous
substance release.
   (3) The owner of property where there has been a release of a
hazardous substance to groundwater underlying the property took, or
is taking, one or more of the following actions:
   (A) Caused or contributed to a release of a hazardous substance to
the groundwater.
   (B) Fails to provide the department, or its authorized
representative, with access to the property.
   (C) Interferes with response action activities.
   (d) In an action brought against an owner of property to recover
costs or expenditures incurred from the state account or the
Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund pursuant to this chapter in response
to a hazardous substance release, the presumption established in
subdivision (b) may be rebutted if it is established by a
preponderance of the evidence that the facts upon which the
department made the certification pursuant to paragraph  (1), (2), or
(3) of subdivision (c) are true.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, this
section governs liability pursuant to this chapter for an owner of
property, as defined in subdivision (a).
   25360.3.  (a) For the purposes of this section, the following
terms have the following meaning:
   (1) "Easement" means a conservation easement, as defined in
Section 815.1 of the Civil Code.
   (2) "Environmental assessment" means an investigation of real
property, conducted by an independent qualified environmental
consultant, to discover the presence or likely presence of a release
or a threat of a release of a hazardous substance at, on, to, or from
the real property.  An environmental assessment shall include, but
is not limited to, an investigation of the historical use of the real
property, any prior releases, records, consultant reports and
regulatory agency correspondence, a visual survey of the real
property, and, if warranted, sampling and analytical testing.
   (3) "Owner" means either of the following:
   (A) An independent special district, as defined in Section 56044
of the Government Code.
   (B) An entity or organization that holds an easement.
   (4) "Property" means either of the following:
   (A) Real property acquired by a special district by means of a
gift or donation for which an environmental assessment was completed
prior to the transfer or conveyance of the real property to the
special district.
   (B) An easement for which an environmental assessment was
completed prior to the transfer or conveyance of the easement to an
entity or organization authorized to accept the easement pursuant to
Section 815.3 of the Civil Code.
   (b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, if an
environmental assessment of property discovers no evidence of the
presence or likely presence of a release or a threat of a release of
a hazardous substance, and a hazardous substance release is
subsequently discovered on, to, or from that property, the owner of
that property is entitled to a rebuttable presumption, affecting the
burden of producing evidence, that the owner is not a liable person
or responsible party for purposes of this chapter.  An owner is
entitled to this presumption whether the action is brought by the
state or by a private party seeking contribution or indemnification.

   (2) In an action brought against an owner of property to recover
costs or expenditures incurred from the state account or the
Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund pursuant to this chapter in response
to a hazardous substance release, the presumption may be rebutted if
it is established by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts
upon which the department made the certification pursuant to
paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (4) of subdivision (c) are true.
   (c) An action for recovery of costs or expenditures incurred from
the state account or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund pursuant to
this chapter in response to a hazardous substance release shall not
be brought against an owner of property unless the department first
certifies that, as found by the department, one of the following
situations applies:
   (1) The hazardous substance release occurred on or after the date
that the owner acquired the property.
   (2) The hazardous substance release occurred before the date that
the owner acquired the property and, at the time of the acquisition,
the owner knew, or had reason to know, of the hazardous substance
release.
   (3) The environmental assessment applicable to the property was
not properly carried out, was fraudulently completed, or involves the
negligent or intentional nondisclosure of information.
   (4) The hazardous substance release was discovered on or after the
date of acquisition and the owner failed to exercise due care with
respect to the release, taking into consideration the characteristics
of the hazardous substance in light of all relevant facts and
circumstances.
   (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, this
section governs liability pursuant to this chapter for an owner of
property, as defined in subdivision (a).
   (e) This section is applicable only to property that is acquired
by the owner on or after January 1, 1995.
   25360.4.  (a) An action under Section 25360 for the recovery of
the costs of removal or remedial action incurred by the department
from the state account, the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund, or any
other source authorized by law, or for the recovery of administrative
costs incurred by the department in connection with any removal or
remedial action performed by the department or by any responsible
party, shall be commenced within three years after completion of the
removal or remedial action has been certified by the department.
   (b) An action under subdivision (c) of Section 25352 for costs
incurred by the department for the purposes specified in subdivision
(a) or (b) of Section 25352 shall be commenced within three years
after certification by the department of the completion of the
activities authorized under subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section
25352.
   (c) In any action described in subdivision (a) or (b) for recovery
of the costs of a removal action, a remedial action, administrative
costs, or damages, where the court has entered a judgment for these
past costs or damages, the court shall also  enter an order reserving
jurisdiction over the case and the court shall have continuing
jurisdiction to determine any future liability and the amount.  The
department may immediately enforce the judgment for past costs and
damages.  The department may apply for a court judgment as to future
costs and damages that have been incurred at any time during the
removal and remedial actions or during the performance of the
activities authorized  by Section 25352, but the application shall be
made not later than three years after the certification of
completion of the actions or activities.
   (d) An action may be commenced under Section 25360 or subdivision
(c) of Section 25352 at any time prior to expiration of the
three-year limitation period provided for by this section.
   25360.6.  (a) The department shall, when it determines that it is
practicable and in the public interest, propose a final
administrative or judicial expedited settlement with potentially
responsible parties if such a settlement involves only a minor
portion of the response costs at a facility and, if in the judgment
of the department, either of the following conditions are met:
   (1) The amount of hazardous substances and the toxic or other
hazardous effects of the hazardous substances contributed by the
potentially responsible party to the facility are minimal in
comparison to the amount and effects of other hazardous substances at
the facility.
   (2) The potentially responsible party is the owner of the real
property on or in which the facility is located, did not conduct or
permit the generation, transportation, storage, treatment, or
disposal of any hazardous substance at the facility, and did not
contribute to the release or threat of release of a hazardous
substance at the facility through any act or omission.  This
paragraph does not apply if the potentially responsible party, at the
time of the purchase of the real property, knew or should have known
that the property was used for the generation, transportation,
storage, treatment, or disposal of any hazardous substance.
   (b) A party who has resolved its liability to the state under this
section shall not be liable for claims for contribution regarding
matters addressed in the settlement.  A settlement under this section
does not discharge any of the other potentially responsible parties
unless its terms so provide, but it reduces the potential liability
of the others by the amount of the settlement.
   (c) Any person who enters into a settlement under this section
shall provide any information relevant to the administration of this
chapter that is requested by the department.  In order to obtain the
contribution protection provided by subdivision (b), a potentially
responsible party participating in a de minimus settlement shall
certify that it has responded fully and accurately to all of the
department's requests for information, and that it has provided all
of the relevant documents pertaining to the facility to the
department.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the
authority of the department or regional board to reach settlements
with other potentially responsible parties under this chapter.
   25361.  (a) The state account or the Hazardous Substance Cleanup
Fund shall be a party in any action for recovery of costs or
expenditures under this chapter incurred from the state account or
the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund.
   (b) In the event a district attorney or a city attorney has
brought an action for civil or criminal penalties pursuant to Chapter
6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) against any person for the
violation of any provision of that chapter, or any rule, regulation,
permit, covenant, standard, requirement, or order issued, adopted, or
executed thereunder, and the department has expended moneys from the
state account pursuant to Section 25354 for immediate corrective
action in response to a release, or threatened release, of a
hazardous substance which has resulted, in whole or in part, from the
person's acts or omissions, the state account may be made a party to
that action for the purpose of recovering the costs against that
person.  If the state account is made a party to the action, the
Attorney General shall represent the state account for the purpose of
recovering the moneys expended from the account.  Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, and under terms that the Attorney General
and the department deem appropriate, the Attorney General may
delegate the authority to recover the costs to the district attorney
or city attorney who has brought the action pursuant to Chapter 6.5
(commencing with Section 25100).  The failure to seek the recovery of
moneys expended from the state account as part of the action brought
pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100) does not
foreclose the Attorney General from recovering the moneys in a
separate action.
   25362.  Upon motion and sufficient showing by any party, the court
shall join to the action any person who may be liable for costs or
expenditures of the type recoverable under this chapter.
   25363.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (f), any party found
liable for any costs or expenditures recoverable under this chapter
who establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that only a
portion of those costs or expenditures are attributable to that party'
s actions, shall be required to pay only for that portion.
   (b) Except as provided in subdivision (f), if the trier of fact
finds the evidence insufficient to establish each party's portion of
costs or expenditures under subdivision (a), the court shall
apportion those costs or expenditures, to the extent practicable,
according to equitable principles, among the defendants.
   (c) The state account shall pay any portion of the judgment in
excess of the aggregate amount of costs or expenditures apportioned
under subdivisions (a) and (b).
   (d) The standard of liability for any costs or expenses
recoverable pursuant to this chapter is strict liability.
   (e) Any person who has incurred removal or remedial action costs
in accordance with this chapter or the federal act may seek
contribution or indemnity from any person who is liable pursuant to
this chapter, except that no claim may be asserted against a person
whose liability has been determined and which has been or is being,
fully discharged pursuant to Section 25356.6, or against a person who
is actively participating in a pending apportionment proceeding
pursuant to Section 25356.6.  An action to enforce a claim may be
brought as a cross-complaint by any defendant in an action brought
pursuant to Section 25360 or this section, or in a separate action
after the person seeking contribution or indemnity has paid removal
or remedial action costs in accordance with this chapter or the
federal act.  Any plaintiff or cross complainant seeking contribution
or indemnity shall give written notice to the director upon filing
an action or cross complaint under this section.  In resolving claims
for contribution or indemnity, the court may allocate costs among
liable parties using those equitable factors which are appropriate.
   (f) Notwithstanding this chapter, any response action contractor
who is found liable for any costs or expenditures recoverable under
this chapter and who establishes by a preponderance of the evidence
that only a portion of those costs or expenditures are attributable
to the response action contractor's actions, shall be required to pay
only that portion of the costs or expenditures attributable to the
response action contractor's actions.
   25364.  Except as provided in Section 25364.1, no indemnification,
hold harmless, conveyance, or similar agreement shall be effective
to transfer any liability for cost or expenditures recoverable under
this chapter.  This section shall not bar any agreement to insure,
hold harmless, or indemnify a party to the agreement for any costs or
expenditures under this chapter.
   25364.1.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
   (1) "Affiliate" means any entity that directly, or indirectly
through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is
under common control with, the responsible party owner.  For
purposes of this paragraph, "control" means the possession, direct or
indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the
management and policies of an entity, or ownership of shares or
interests in the entity possessing more than 50 percent of the voting
power.
   (2) "Qualified independent consultant" means either a geologist
who is registered pursuant to Section 7850 of the Business and
Professions Code or a professional engineer who is registered
pursuant to Section 6762 of the Business and Professions Code.
   (3) "Responsible party owner" means the owner of all or part of
the site on January 1, 1993, or if all or a part of the site is
transferred to a joint venture formed for purposes of development of
the site, the owner of the site immediately prior to that transfer.
   (4) "Site" means the site of the former Kaiser Steel Corporation
steel mill located near the City of Fontana.
   (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided
in subdivisions (c) and (e), the director may release from liability
under this chapter or Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100),
and from liability for any claims of the state for recovery of
response costs under the federal act, any of the following persons,
with regard to a removal or remedial action at the site:
   (1) Any person who provides financing for all, or a substantial
part of, the costs of performing a removal or remedial action at the
site pursuant to a remedial action plan prepared by a qualified
independent consultant and issued by the department pursuant to
subdivision (e) of Section 25356.1, except that the release from
liability shall not release the person providing this financing from
liability for any hazardous substance release or threatened release
resulting from that person's exercise of decisionmaking control over
the performance of the removal or remedial action while the
responsible party owner remains in possession of the site.
   (2) Any person who enters into an agreement with the responsible
party owner to provide development services for the development of
all, or a part of, the site, including a developer, who becomes a
partner in a joint venture partnership with the responsible party
owner, if the joint venture is formed for purposes of the development
of the site and legal title to the site is transferred by the
responsible party owner to the joint venture.  If a release from
liability is granted to a developer pursuant to this paragraph and
the legal title to the site is transferred by the responsible party
owner to a joint venture between the developer and the responsible
party owner of the site, the responsible party owner shall not be
relieved of liability under this chapter.
   (3) Any person who acquires an ownership or leasehold interest in
all or a part of the site after performance of the removal or
remedial action specified in the remedial action plan for the site,
or part of the site, has been completed to the satisfaction of the
department.
   (c) A release from liability shall not be granted pursuant to
subdivision (b) unless all of the following conditions are met:
   (1) A responsible party owner has entered into a stipulated
settlement of an order issued by the department pursuant to Section
25187, 25355.5, or 25358.3 to perform the removal or remedial action
at the site in accordance with the remedial action plan and has
arranged financing, contingent only upon obtaining releases from
potential liability pursuant to subdivision (b), for the costs of
performing the removal or remedial action.
   (2) A responsible party owner agrees to pay all applicable
oversight fees required by Section 25343 and to pay any additional
costs that are recoverable pursuant to Section 25360.
   (3) No person to be released from liability pursuant to
subdivision (b) is a responsible party or an affiliate of a
responsible party, with respect to any hazardous substance release
existing at  the site at the time the release from liability is
granted.
   (4) The stipulated settlement requires the responsible party owner
to provide irrevocable financial assurances for full performance of
the remedial action plan.  The financial assurances may consist of
one or more of the financial assurance instruments described in
Section 66264.143 of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations.
Upon the approval of the department, the forms of these instruments
may be revised as appropriate to apply to the costs of performing the
removal or remedial action specified in the remedial action plan.
   (5) The director finds that the release from liability to be
granted will promote the purposes and goals of this chapter and
encourage private investment in property that is in need of
remediation.
   (d) The site may be subdivided to create subdivided parcels of
land, pursuant to the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2 (commencing
with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code), in order to
facilitate removal or remedial action at the site, secure financing
for removal or remedial action, or secure financing for development
which would generate funds for removal or remedial action at the
site.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a release
from liability granted pursuant to subdivision (b) shall not extend
to any of the following:
   (1) Any person who was a responsible party for a hazardous
substance release existing at the site before the release from
liability was granted, and any entity which is an affiliate of such a
responsible party.
   (2) Any contractor who prepares the remedial action plan or
performs the removal or remedial action provided for in the remedial
action plan.
   (3) Any person who obtains a release pursuant to subdivision (b)
by fraud or negligent or intentional nondisclosure or
misrepresentation.
   (4) Any liability for a release or threatened release of a
hazardous substance first deposited at the site by a person released
from liability pursuant to subdivision (b) after the release from
liability is granted.
   (f) Any release from liability granted by the director pursuant to
this section shall contain the following provision:  "If, for any
reason, the responsible party does not complete the removal or
remedial action, this release does not extend to any subsequent
actions or activities performed by the released party that exacerbate
the conditions at the site."
   25364.7.  The repeal of Section 25364.6 shall not affect any
indemnity provided pursuant to that section for any cause of action
brought because of any act or omission which occurs before the repeal
of that section.
   25365.  The entry of judgment against any party to the action
shall not be deemed to bar any future action by the state account
against any person who is later discovered to be potentially liable
for costs and expenditures paid by the state account.
   25365.6.  (a) Any costs or damages incurred  by the department or
regional board pursuant to this chapter constitutes a claim and lien
upon the real property owned by the responsible party that is subject
to, or affected by, the removal and remedial action.  This lien
shall attach regardless of whether the responsible party is
insolvent.  A lien established by this section shall be subject to
the notice and hearing procedures required by due process of the law
and shall arise at the time costs are first incurred by the
department or regional board with respect to a response action at the
site.
   (b) The department shall not be considered a responsible party for
a hazardous substance release site because a claim and lien is
imposed pursuant to this section.
   (c) The lien provided by this section shall continue until the
liability for these costs or damages, or a judgment against the
responsible party, is satisfied.  However, if it is determined by the
court that the judgment against the responsible party will not be
satisfied, the department may exercise its rights under the lien.
   (d) The lien imposed by this section shall have the force and
effect of, and the priority of, a judgment lien upon its recordation
in the county in which the property subject to the lien is located.
The lien shall contain the legal description of the real property,
the  assessor's parcel number, and the name of the owner of record,
as shown on the latest equalized assessment roll.  The lien shall
also contain a legal description of the property which is the site of
the hazardous substance release, the assessor's parcel number for
that property, and the name of the owner of record, as shown on the
latest equalized assessment roll, of that property.
   (e) All funds recovered pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the state account, except that, if the costs incurred
were paid from the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund, the recovered
funds shall be deposited in the Hazardous Substance Clearing Account.

   25366.  (a) This chapter shall not be construed as imposing any
new liability associated with acts that occurred on or before January
1, 1982, if the acts were not in violation of existing state or
federal laws at the time they occurred.
   (b) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as authorizing
recovery for response costs or damages resulting from any release
authorized or permitted pursuant to state law  or a federally
permitted release.
   (c) Except as provided in Sections 25360, 25361, 25362, and 25363,
nothing in this chapter shall affect or modify in any way the
obligations or liability of any person under any other provision of
state or federal law, including common law, for damages, injury, or
loss resulting from a release of any hazardous substance or for
removal or remedial action or the costs of removal or remedial action
of the hazardous substance.
   25366.5.  (a) Any public agency operating a household hazardous
waste collection program or any person operating such a program under
a written agreement with a public agency, or, for material received
from the public as used oil, any person operating a certified used
oil collection center as provided in Section 48660 of the Public
Resources Code, shall not be held liable in any cost recovery action
brought pursuant to Section 25360, including, but not limited to, any
action to recover the fees imposed by Section 25343, for any waste
which has been properly handled and transported to an authorized
hazardous waste treatment or disposal facility at a location other
than that of the collection program.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "household hazardous waste
collection program" means a program in which hazardous wastes from
households and small quantity commercial sources, as defined in
subdivision (d) of Section 25158.1, are collected and ultimately
transferred to an authorized hazardous waste treatment, storage, or
disposal facility.
   (c) Except as provided in subdivision (a), this section does not
affect or modify the obligations or liabilities of any person imposed
pursuant to any state or federal law.
   25367.  Any person who commits any of the following acts shall be
liable for a civil penalty not to exceed twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000) for each separate violation, or for continuing violations,
for each day during which that violation continues:
   (a) Intentionally makes any false statement or representation in
any report or information furnished pursuant to Section 25358.1.
   (b) Intentionally fails to provide any information requested
pursuant to Section 25358.1.
   (c) Refuses or prevents, without sufficient cause, any activity
authorized pursuant to Section 25358.1 or 25358.3.

      Article 6.3.  Technology Demonstration Program

   25368.  Notwithstanding Section 25355.5, the department shall
carry out a program of full-scale demonstrations to evaluate
treatment technologies that can be safely utilized for removal and
remedial actions to hazardous substance releases.
   25368.1.  For the purposes of this article, the following
definitions apply:
   (a) "Treatment technologies" means methods, techniques, or
processes, including proprietary or patented methods, that
permanently alter the composition of hazardous substances at
hazardous substance release sites through chemical, biological, or
physical means so as to make the substances nonhazardous or to
significantly reduce the toxicity, mobility, or volume, or any
combination thereof, of the hazardous substances or contaminated
materials being treated.
   (b) "Full-scale demonstration" means a demonstration of a
technology that is of a size or capacity which permits valid
comparison of the technology to the technical performance and cost of
conventional technologies, that is likely to be cost-effective, and
that will result in a substantial or complete remedial or removal
action to a hazardous substance release site.
   25368.2.  The department shall select technology demonstration
projects to be evaluated pursuant to this article using criteria that
include, at a minimum, all of the following requirements:
   (a) The project proposal includes complete and adequate
documentation of technical feasibility.
   (b) The project proposal includes evidence that a technology has
been sufficiently developed for full-scale demonstration and can
likely operate on a cost-effective basis.
   (c) The department has determined that a site is available and
suitable for demonstrating the technology or technologies, taking
into account the physical, biological, chemical, and geological
characteristics of the site, the extent and type of contamination
found at the site, and the capability to conduct demonstration
projects in a manner to ensure the protection of human health and the
environment.
   (d) The technology to be demonstrated preferably has widespread
applicability in removal and remedial actions at other sites in the
state.
   (e) The project will be developed to the extent that a successful
demonstration on a hazardous substance release site may lead to
commercial utilization by responsible parties at other sites in the
state.
   (f) The department has determined that adequate funding is
available from one or more of the following sources:
   (1) Responsible parties.
   (2) The Environmental Protection Agency.
   (3) The Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund.
   (4) The state account.
   25368.3.  The department shall identify hazardous substance
release sites, listed pursuant to Section 25356, that are
particularly well-suited for technology demonstration projects.  In
identifying hazardous substance release sites, the department shall
consider, at a minimum, all of the following:
   (a) The state's priority ranking for removal and remedial actions
to hazardous substance release sites adopted pursuant to Section
25356.
   (b) The volume and variability of the hazardous substance release
at the site.
   (c) The availability of data characterizing the hazardous
substance release.
   (d) The accessibility of the hazardous substance release.
   (e) Availability of required utilities.
   (f) Support of federal and local governments.
   (g) Potential for adverse effects to public health and the
environment.
   25368.4.  (a) The department shall annually, on or before July 1,
publish a solicitation for proposals to conduct treatment
demonstration projects which utilize technologies which are at a
stage of development suitable for full-scale demonstrations at
hazardous substance release sites.  The solicitation notice shall
prescribe information to be included in the proposal, including
technical and economic data derived from the applicant's own research
and development efforts, and any other information which may be
prescribed by the department to assess the technology's potential and
safety and the types of removal or remedial action to which it may
be applicable.
   (b) Any person and private or public entity may submit an
application to the department in response to the solicitation.  The
application shall contain a proposed treatment demonstration plan
setting forth how the treatment demonstration project is to be
carried out and any other information which the department may
require.
   25368.5.  (a) On or before January 1, after reviewing all
proposals submitted pursuant to Section 25368.4, the department shall
annually select at least two treatment demonstration projects, to be
commenced during that calendar year, using, at a minimum, the
criteria specified in Section 25368.2.
   (b) If the department determines that the required number of
demonstrations required by subdivision (a) cannot be initiated
consistent with the criteria specified in Section 25368.2 in any
fiscal year, the department shall inform the appropriate committees
of the Legislature of the reasons for its inability to conduct these
demonstration projects.
   (c) Each treatment demonstration project selected pursuant to this
section shall be performed by the applicant, or by a person approved
by the applicant and the department.
   25368.6.  Notwithstanding Section 25360, if the department
determines that using an alternative treatment technology to conduct
a removal or remedial action at a hazardous substance release site
listed pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of Section
25356 would be more costly than another available and feasible
removal or remedial action method that would also achieve
satisfactory results, the department may determine not to attempt to
recover from the liable person the incremental costs of the removal
or remedial action attributable to the alternative treatment
technology.
   25368.7.  The department shall conduct a technology transfer
program that shall include the development, collection, evaluation,
coordination, and dissemination of information relating to the
utilization of alternative or innovative hazardous waste treatment
technologies demonstrated pursuant to this article.  The information
shall include an evaluation of each treatment demonstration project's
efficacy relating to performance and cost in achieving permanent and
significant reduction in risks from hazardous substance releases.
The information shall also include documentation of the testing
procedures utilized in the project, the data collected, and the
quality assurance and quality control which was conducted.  The
information shall also include the technology's applicability,
pretreatment and posttreatment measurements, and the technology's
advantages or disadvantages compared to other available technologies.

   25368.8.  Notwithstanding paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of
Section 25356.1, when preparing or approving a remedial action plan
for a site listed pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b)
of Section 25356, that has been selected for a treatment
demonstration project pursuant to this article, the department shall
consider the cost-effectiveness of the project but is not required to
choose the most cost-effective measure.

      Article 6.5.  Abandoned Site Program

   25369.  The department shall establish an abandoned  site program
to survey counties where abandoned site surveys have not been
completed.  As part of the program, the department shall do all of
the following:
   (a) Develop protocols and procedures for conducting an abandoned
site survey of rural unsurveyed counties.  These protocols shall
address all types of sites likely to be found in these counties,
including, but not limited to, crop-duster airstrips, abandoned
mining operations, pesticide formulators and manufacturers, abandoned
wells, oil exploration and extraction, wood treatment plants, land
disposal sites, and scrap metal operations.
   (b) Notify the California regional water quality control boards,
the Department of Fish and Game, local health officers, county
directors of environmental health, county agricultural commissioners,
and state and federal land management agencies of the abandoned site
program.  Notifications shall consist of the following:
   (1) Explanation of the abandoned site program.
   (2) Description of the California Superfund Program, including the
availability of state funds for cleaning up abandoned hazardous
waste sites, and that discovery of a site does not impose liability
for cleanup.
   (3) Provide a copy of the program's protocols and procedures
outlining sites the state is attempting to identify.
   (4) Request that, as part of each respective agency's duties, it
report to the state abandoned site program any suspected abandoned
waste site.
   (5) Request that each participating agency, as a part of its
regular activities, notify the department of sites identified in
writing at least quarterly.
   (c) Prepare an inventory of suspected abandoned hazardous
substance release sites.
   (d) Contact the owners and occupants of suspected abandoned sites.

   (e) Maintain individual records for each suspected abandoned site.

   (f) Develop a methodology for screening sites identified.
   (g) Conduct a field assessment of those sites which the screening
procedures specified in subdivision (f) indicate require this
assessment.
   (h) Rank the assessed sites, in order of priority, as presenting a
potential hazard to public health or the environment consistent with
Section 25356 or regulations adopted pursuant to that section.
   (i) Report to the Legislature quarterly, on an update on the
progress of the abandoned sites survey, identifying which agencies
have identified and reported sites to the department, as well as
which agencies have reported that they do not intend to participate
in the program.

      Article 7.  Compensation

   25370.  "Board," as used in this article, means the State Board of
Control.
   25372.  Any person may apply to the board, pursuant to Section
25373, for compensation of a loss caused by the release, in
California, of a hazardous substance if any of the following
conditions are met:
   (a) The source of the release of the hazardous substance, or the
identity of the party liable for damages in connection therewith or
responsible for the costs of removal of the hazardous substance, is
unknown or cannot, with reasonable diligence, be determined.
   (b) The loss was not compensable pursuant to law, including
Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 25100), because there is no
liable party or the judgment could not be satisfied, in whole or
part, against the party determined to be liable for the release of
the hazardous substance.
   (c) The person has presented a written demand for compensation,
which sets forth the basis for the claim, to the party which the
person reasonably believes is liable for a loss specified in
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25375 which was incurred
by that person and is compensable pursuant to this article, the
person has presented the board with a copy of the demand, and, within
60 days after presenting the demand, the party has either rejected,
in whole or in part, the demand to be compensated for a loss
specified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25375, or
has not responded to the demand.  Only losses  specified in paragraph
(1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25375 are compensable under a
claim filed pursuant to this subdivision.
   25373.  The board shall prescribe appropriate forms and procedures
for claims filed pursuant to this article, which shall include, as a
minimum, all of the following:
   (a) A provision requiring the claimant to make a sworn
verification of the claim to the best of his or her knowledge.
   (b) A full description, supported by appropriate evidence from
government agencies of the release of the hazardous substance claimed
to be the cause of the physical injury or illness or loss of income.

   (c) Certification by the claimant of dates and places of residence
for the five years preceding the date of the claim.
   (d) Certification of the medical history of the claimant for the
five years preceding the date of the claim, along with certification
of the alleged physical injury or illness and expenses for the
physical injury or illness.  The certification shall be made by
hospitals, physicians, or other qualified medical authorities.
   (e) The claimant's income as reported on the claimant's federal
income tax return for the preceding three years in order to compute
lost wages or income.
   (f) Any person who knowingly gives, or causes to be given, any
false information as a part of any such claim shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction, be fined up to five thousand
dollars ($5,000), or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.

   25374.  All decisions rendered by the board shall be in writing,
with notification to all appropriate parties, and shall be rendered
within 90 days of submission of a claim to the board unless all the
parties to the claim agree in writing to an extension of time.  The
decision shall be considered a final agency action for the purposes
of judicial review of the decision by any party to the proceedings
resulting in the decision.
   25375.  (a) If the board makes the determination, specified in
subdivision (b), that losses resulted from the claimant's damages,
injury, or disease, only the following losses are compensable
pursuant to this article:
   (1) One hundred percent of uninsured, out-of-pocket medical
expenses, for up to three years from the onset of treatment.
   (2) Eighty percent of any uninsured, actual lost wages, or
business income in  lieu of wages, caused by injury to the claimant
or the claimant's property, not to exceed fifteen thousand dollars
($15,000) per year for three years.
   (3) One hundred percent of uninsured, out-of-pocket expenses for
remedial action on the claimant's property undertaken to address a
release of a hazardous substance when all of the following apply:
   (A) The claimant's property is an owner-occupied single-family
residence.
   (B) The remedial action was ordered by federal, state, or local
authorities due to a release of a hazardous substance.
   (C) The department makes one of the following determinations:
   (i) The release of the hazardous substance originated outside the
boundaries of the property.
   (ii) The release of the hazardous substance occurred on the
property, was the result of an action which violated state or federal
law, and the responsible party cannot be identified or cannot be
located, or a judgment against the responsible party cannot be
satisfied.
   The maximum compensation under this paragraph is limited to
twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) per residence and to one
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) for five contiguous residential
properties.  Any compensation provided shall be reduced by the amount
that the remedial action results in a capital improvement to the
claimant's residence.
   (4) One hundred percent of the fair market value of owner-occupied
real property that is rendered permanently unfit for occupancy
because of the release of a hazardous substance.  For purposes of
this paragraph, real property is rendered permanently unfit for
occupancy only if a state or federal agency requires that it be
evacuated for a period of six or more months because of the release
of a hazardous substance.  The fair market value of the real property
shall be determined by an independent appraiser, and shall be
considered by the independent appraiser as being  equal to the value
of the real property prior to the release of the hazardous substance
that caused the evacuation of the property.  Where compensation is
made by the board pursuant to this paragraph, sole ownership of the
real property shall be transferred to the state and any proceeds
resulting from the final disposition of the real property shall be
deposited into the state account, for expenditure by the department
upon appropriation by the Legislature.  To be eligible for
compensation pursuant to this paragraph, claims for compensation
shall be made within 12 months of the date on which the evacuation
was ordered.
   (5) One hundred percent of the expenses incurred due to the
evacuation of a residence ordered by a state or federal agency.  For
purposes of this paragraph, "evacuation expenses" include the cost of
shelter and any other emergency expenditures incurred due to an
evacuation ordered by a state or federal agency.  The board may
provide compensation, pursuant to this paragraph, only if it finds
that the evacuation expenses represent reasonable costs for the goods
or services purchased, and would not have been incurred if an
evacuation caused by a hazardous substance release had not occurred.
The board may provide compensation for these evacuation expenses
only if they were incurred within 12 months from the date on which
evacuation was ordered.
   (b) A loss specified in subdivision (a) is compensable if the
board makes all of the following findings, based upon a preponderance
of the evidence:
   (1) A release of a hazardous substance occurred.
   (2) The claimant or the claimant's property was exposed to the
release of the hazardous substance.
   (3) The exposure of the claimant to the release of the hazardous
substance was of such a duration, and to such a quantity of the
hazardous substance, that the exposure caused the damages, injury, or
disease which resulted in the claimant's loss.
   (4) For purposes of paragraphs (4) and (5) of subdivision (a), the
hazardous substance release, or the order which resulted in the
claim for compensation occurred on or after January 1, 1986.
   (5) The conditions and requirements of this article including, but
not limited to, the conditions of Sections 25372 and 25373, have
been met.
   (c) No money shall be used for the payment of any claim authorized
by this chapter, where the claim is the result of long-term exposure
to ambient concentrations of air pollutants.
   25375.5.  (a) Except as specified in subdivision (b), the
procedures specified in Article 8 (commencing with Section 11435.05)
of Chapter 4.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of, and in Section
11513 of, the Government Code apply to the proceedings conducted by
the board pursuant to this article.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), Sections 801, 802, 803, 804,
and 805 of the Evidence Code apply to the proceedings conducted by
the board pursuant to this article.
   (c) The board may consider evidence presented by any person
against whom a demand was made pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
25372.  The evidence presented by that person shall become a part of
the record upon which the board's decision shall be based.
   25376.  No claim may be presented to the board pursuant to this
article later than three years from the date of discovery of the loss
or from January 1, 1982, whichever is later.
   25377.  Nothing in this article shall require, or be deemed to
require, pursuit of any claim against the board as a condition
precedent to any other remedy.
   25378.  (a) Compensation of any loss pursuant to this article
shall preclude indemnification or reimbursement from any other source
for the identical loss, and indemnification or reimbursement from
any other source shall preclude compensation pursuant to this
article.
   (b) If a claimant recovers any compensation from a party in a
civil or administrative action for a loss for which the claimant has
received compensation pursuant to this article, the claimant shall
reimburse the state account in an amount equal to the compensation
which the claimant has received from the state account pursuant to
this article.  The Attorney General may bring an action against the
claimant to recover the amount which the claimant is required to
reimburse the state account, and until the account is reimbursed, the
state shall have a lien of first priority on the judgment or award
recovered by the claimant.  If the state account is reimbursed
pursuant to this subdivision, the state shall not acquire,  by
subrogation, the claimant's rights pursuant to Section 25380.
   (c) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that it is the
purpose of this section to prevent double recovery for a loss
compensable pursuant to this article.
   25379.  (a) The following evidence is not admissible as evidence
in any civil or criminal proceeding, including a subrogation action
by the state pursuant to Section 25380, to establish the liability of
any person for any damages alleged to have been caused by a release
of a hazardous substance:
   (1) A final decision made by the board pursuant to this article.
   (2) A decision made by the board to admit or not admit any
evidence.
   (3) Any finding of fact or conclusion of law entered by the board
in a proceeding for a claim pursuant to this article.
   (4) The fact that any person has done any of the following in a
proceeding for a claim pursuant to Section 25372:
   (A) Chosen to participate or appear.
   (B) Chosen not to participate or appear.
   (C) Failed to appear.
   (D) Settled or offered to settle the claim.
   (b) Subdivision (a) does not apply to any civil action or writ by
a claimant against the board for any act, decision, or failure to act
on a claim submitted by the claimant.
   25380.  Compensation of any loss pursuant to this article shall be
subject to the state's acquiring, by subrogation, all rights of the
claimant to recover the loss from the party determined to be liable
therefor.  Upon the request of the board, the Attorney General shall
commence an action in the name of the people of the State of
California to recover any amount paid in compensation for any loss
pursuant to this article against any party who is liable to the
claimant for any loss compensable pursuant to this article in
accordance with the procedures set forth in Sections 25360 to 25364,
inclusive.  Moneys recovered pursuant to this section shall be
deposited in the state account.
   25381.  (a) The board shall, in consultation with the department,
adopt, and revise when appropriate, all rules and regulations
necessary to implement this article, including methods that provide
for establishing that a claimant has exercised reasonable diligence
in satisfying the conditions specified in Sections 25372, 25373,
25375, and 25375.5, and regulations that specify the proof necessary
to establish a loss compensable pursuant to this article.
   (b) Claims approved by the board pursuant to this article shall be
paid from the state account.
   (c) The Legislature may appropriate up to two million dollars
($2,000,000) annually from the state account to be used by the board
for the payment of awards pursuant to this article.
   (d) Claims against or presented to the board shall not be paid in
excess of the amount of money appropriated for this purpose from the
state account.  These claims shall be paid only when additional money
is collected, appropriated, or otherwise added to that account.
   25382.  The board may expend from the state account those sums of
money as are reasonably necessary to administer and carry out this
article.

      Article 7.5.  Hazardous Substance Cleanup Bond Act of 1984

   25385.  This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Johnston-Filante Hazardous Substance Cleanup Bond Act of 1984.
   25385.1.  For purposes of this article, and for purposes of
Section 16722 of the Government Code as applied to this article, the
following definitions apply:
   (a) "Board" means the Department of Toxic Substances Control.
   (b) "Committee" means the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Committee
created pursuant to Section 25385.4.
   (c) "Director" means the Director of Toxic Substances Control.
   (d) "Fund" means the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund created
pursuant to Section 25385.3.
   (e) "Orphan site" means a site with a release or threatened
release of a hazardous substance with no reasonably identifiable
responsible parties.
   (f) "Orphan share" means those costs of removal or remedial action
at sites with a release or threatened release of hazardous
substances, which costs are in excess of amounts included in a
cleanup agreement.
   (g) "Responsible party" means a person who is, or may be,
responsible or liable for carrying out, or paying for the costs of, a
removal or remedial action.
   (h) "Trust fund" means the Superfund Bond Trust Fund.
   25385.2.  The State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code) is adopted for the purpose of the issuance,
sale, and repayment of, and otherwise providing with respect to, the
bonds authorized to be issued pursuant to this article, and the
provisions of that law are included in this article as though set out
in full in this article, except that, notwithstanding anything in
the State General Obligation Bond Law, the maximum maturity of bonds
shall not exceed 30 years from the date of the bonds, or from the
date of each respective series.  The maturity of each respective
series shall be calculated from the date of the series.
   25385.3.  (a) The Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund is hereby
created in the State Treasury.  The proceeds of bonds issued and sold
pursuant to this article shall be deposited in the fund, and the
money in the fund may be expended only for the purposes specified in
this article and, pursuant to appropriation by the Legislature, in
the manner specified in this section.
   (b) Except when the Legislature appropriates money from the fund
for specified removal or remedial actions in a bill other than the
Budget Act, it is the intention of the Legislature that all proposed
appropriations for activities conducted pursuant to this article be
included in a section of the Budget Act for each fiscal year for
consideration by the Legislature and that this section be captioned
"Hazardous Substance Cleanup Bond Act Program." Any appropriation of
money from the fund is subject to all the limitations contained in
the bill making the appropriation and to all fiscal procedures
specified by statute concerning the expenditure of state funds.
   (c) In issuing bonds pursuant to this article, the committee
shall, to the extent possible, pay the principal of, and interest on,
the bonds from the sources specified in subdivisions (a) to (f),
inclusive, of Section 25385.9.  The General Fund shall be reimbursed
from these sources for any transfers made to the Hazardous Substance
                                             Clearing Account from
the General Fund to make the principal and interest payments.  In
determining the amount the General Fund is to be reimbursed for any
transfer, the committee shall also include interest on the transfer
at a rate equal to the bond rate on the transfer from the date of
transfer to the date of reimbursement.
   25385.4.  The Hazardous Substance Cleanup Committee, which is
hereby created, shall consist of the Governor, the Director of
Finance, the Treasurer, the Controller, and the Secretary for
Environmental Protection.
   25385.5.  The committee may create a debt or debts, liability or
liabilities, of the State of California, in the aggregate of one
hundred million dollars ($100,000,000), in the manner provided in
this article.  The debt or debts, liability or liabilities, shall be
created for the purpose of providing moneys, for deposit in the fund,
for the purposes specified in Section 25385.6.
   25385.6.  (a) The moneys in the Hazardous Substance Cleanup Fund
may be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes
specified in this section.
   (b) The board may expend moneys in the fund, upon the
authorization of the committee, for all of the following purposes:
   (1) To provide the state share of a removal or remedial action
pursuant to Section 104(c)(3) of the federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9604
(c)(3)) if the site is the subject of a final remedial action plan
issued pursuant to Section 25356.1.
   (2) To pay all costs of a removal or remedial action incurred by
the state, or by any local agency with the approval of the director,
in response to a release or threatened release of a hazardous
substance at a site which is listed in the priority ranking of sites
pursuant to Section 25356 and is the subject of a final remedial
action plan issued pursuant to Section 25356.1, to the extent that
the costs are not paid by responsible parties or are reimbursed by
the federal act.
   (3) To pay for site characterization of a release of hazardous
substances, even if a remedial action plan has not been prepared,
approved, adopted, or made final for that site.
   25385.7.  (a) All bonds authorized by this article, which are sold
and delivered as provided in this article, constitute valid and
legally binding general obligations of the State of California, and
the full faith and credit of the State of California are hereby
pledged for the punctual payment of both principal and interest
thereon.
   (b) There shall be collected annually, in the same manner and at
the same time as other state revenue is collected, that sum, in
addition to the ordinary revenues of the state, which is required to
pay the principal of, and interest on, the bonds as provided in this
article, and all officers charged by law with any duty in regard to
the collection of the revenue shall perform each and every act which
is necessary to collect this additional sum.
   25385.8.  (a) The Superfund Bond Trust Fund is hereby created in
the State Treasury.  All interest earned on funds in the state
account, and other funds transferred to the trust fund by the
Legislature or the department, shall be deposited in the trust fund,
which is a sinking fund to ensure the payment of principal of, and
interest on, the debt incurred pursuant to Section 25385.5.  All
interest earned on money in the fund shall be deposited in the trust
fund.  The funds in the trust fund shall be invested by the
Treasurer.  The committee shall administer the trust fund so that
there are sufficient funds in the trust fund to make the necessary
principal and interest payments on bonds issued and shall transfer
funds from the trust fund for this purpose to the Hazardous Substance
Clearing Account.
   (b) There shall be transferred annually the sum of five million
dollars ($5,000,000) from the state account to the trust fund.
   (c) The unobligated balance in the state account shall be
transferred by the department to the trust fund on December 31 of
each year.  For purposes of this section, "unobligated balance" means
that amount, which shall not be less than  zero, determined by the
department, in the year-end financial statement submitted to the
Controller, to be the total of all unencumbered funds on June 30 of
that calendar year, less the total of all of the following:
   (1) Any fund in the reserve account for emergencies established by
Section 25354.
   (2) Any remaining principal of the loan authorized by Section
25332.
   (3) Any interest due on any remaining principal of the loan
authorized by Section 25332.
   (4) Any funds paid as taxes for the following fiscal year.
   (5) Any funds received from the federal government pursuant to the
federal act.
   (6) Any interest accruing from funds deposited in the subaccount
for site operation and maintenance established by Section 25330.5.
   (7) Any funds received from responsible parties for remedial and
removal action, except to the extent those funds are necessary to
reimburse the state account for funds previously expended therefrom.

   (8) Any funds deposited into a sinking fund to ensure the
repayment of principal on, and interest of, bonds pursuant to Section
25385.9.
   (d) The amendment of this section by Chapter 531 of the Statutes
of 1990 does not constitute a change in, but is declaratory of, the
existing law.
   25385.9.  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the board
shall pay the principal of, and interest on, the bonds from the
Hazardous Substance Clearing Account, using the following sources, in
the following order of priority:
   (a) Money derived from the premium and the accrued interest on
bonds which are sold.
   (b) Recoveries from responsible parties of costs incurred for
removal or remedial actions at sites listed pursuant to Section
25356, insofar as the removal or remedial action expenditures were
paid from proceeds from bonds issued pursuant to this article.
   (c) Funds received pursuant to the federal act which are
designated to be used for removal or remedial actions paid for by
proceeds from bonds issued pursuant to this article.
   (d) Any money transferred from the state account.
   (e) Any money transferred from the trust fund.
   (f) Any money derived from any other source, as provided by law.
   (g) The General Fund.
   25386.  Notwithstanding Section 25386.5, the money deposited in
the fund is available for transfer to the General Fund if money was
deposited in the fund pursuant to any provision of law requiring
repayments to the state for assistance financed by the proceeds of
the bonds issued pursuant to this article.  When transferred to the
General Fund, that money shall be applied as a reimbursement to the
General Fund for the principal and interest payments on the bonds
which have been paid from the General Fund.
   25386.1.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund in
the State Treasury, for the purpose of this article, an amount equal
to the sum of all of the following:
   (a) The sum, annually, which will be necessary to pay the
principal of, and the interest on, the bonds issued and sold pursuant
to this article, as the principal and interest become due and
payable.
   (b) The sum which is necessary to carry out Section 25386.2, which
sum is appropriated without regard to fiscal years, notwithstanding
Section 13340 of the Government Code.
   25386.2.  For the purpose of carrying out this article, the
Director of Finance may, by executive order, authorize the withdrawal
from the General Fund of amounts not to exceed the amount of the
unsold bonds which the committee has, by resolution, authorized to be
sold for the purpose of carrying out this article.  Any amounts
withdrawn shall be deposited in the fund and shall be disbursed by
the board in accordance with this article.  Any moneys made available
pursuant to this section shall be returned to the General Fund from
moneys received from the sale of bonds sold for the purpose of
carrying out this article.
   25386.25.  Notwithstanding any other provision of this bond act,
or of the State General Obligation Bond Law (Chapter 4 (commencing
with Section 16720) of Part 3 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the
Government Code), if the Treasurer sells bonds pursuant to this bond
act that include a bond counsel opinion to the effect that the
interest on the bonds is excluded from gross income for federal tax
purposes under designated conditions, the Treasurer may maintain
separate accounts for the bond proceeds invested and the investment
earnings on those proceeds, and may use or direct the use of those
proceeds or earnings to pay any rebate, penalty, or other payment
required under federal law, or take any other action with respect to
the investment and use of those bond proceeds, as may be required or
desirable under federal law in order to maintain the tax-exempt
status of those bonds and to obtain any other advantage under federal
law on behalf of the funds of this state.
   25386.3.  Upon the request of the board, and supported by a
statement of the proposed actions to be taken pursuant to Section
25385.6, the committee shall determine whether it is necessary or
desirable to issue any bonds authorized pursuant to this article in
order to take these actions, and if so, the amount of bonds which
should be issued and sold.  Successive issues of bonds may be
authorized and sold to take these actions progressively, and it is
not necessary that all of the bonds authorized by this article to be
issued are sold at any one time.
   25386.4.  The committee may authorize the Treasurer to sell all,
or any part of, the bonds authorized under this article at the time
or times as may be fixed by the Treasurer.
   25386.5.  Except as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 25385.3
and Section 25386, all proceeds from the sale of bonds, except those
derived from premiums and accrued interest, are available for the
purposes specified in Section 25385.6, but are not available for
transfer to the General Fund to pay the principal of, and interest
on, the bonds.

      Article 7.8.  Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund

   25390.  For purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Fund" means the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund
established pursuant to Section 25390.3.
   (b) "Orphan share" means the share of liability for the costs of
response action that is attributable to the activities of persons who
are defunct or insolvent, as determined pursuant to Section 25390.5.

   25390.1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

   (a) This article, which establishes an Orphan Share Reimbursement
Trust Fund, operates in conjunction with the federal liability scheme
under the federal act as in effect on July 1, 1998, for the recovery
of response costs expended by government agencies.
   (b) Under federal liability, at sites where there are insolvent or
defunct parties that cannot contribute to the cost of cleanup,
viable responsible parties pay the share of liability for that
cleanup that may be attributable to insolvent and defunct parties.
   (c) The Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund is created to
mitigate the payment of an insolvent or defunct party's liability
share by viable responsible parties, to the extent money in the fund
is available, and to encourage responsible parties to quickly and
efficiently remediate contamination.
   25390.2.  (a) This article does not prohibit, and is not intended
to prohibit, the department, the regional board, or the Attorney
General from pursuing any existing legal, equitable, or
administrative remedies, pursuant to federal or state law, against
any potentially responsible party.
   (b) No liability or obligation is imposed upon the state pursuant
to this article, and the state shall not incur a liability or
obligation beyond the payment of claims pursuant to this article, to
the extent that money is available and has been allocated by the
administrator under subdivision (c) of Section 25390.4.  No legal
action may be brought against the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust
Fund in its own name.
   25390.3.  (a) The Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund is hereby
created in the State Treasury.
   (b) The administrator of the fund may expend the money deposited
in the fund as provided in this article, upon appropriation by the
Legislature.  The administrator of the fund shall act in a fiduciary
capacity, shall prudently administer the fund, and shall protect the
fund from any unreasonable or unjustified claims, including any
unreasonable or unjustified determinations of the orphan share
percentage.
   (c) Except as provided in subdivision (d) and subdivision (b) of
Section 25358.7.2, the administrator of the fund may expend the money
in the fund for all of the following purposes:
   (1) To pay claims for reimbursement of all, or any part of, the
orphan share at a site paid by the responsible party filed pursuant
to Section 25390.4.
   (2) For the costs of implementing this article.
   (3) To pay the reasonable costs of the department and the regional
board for performance of its duties under this article, including,
but not limited to, its participation in the orphan share
determination process set forth in Section 25390.5, unless those
costs are paid by a potentially responsible party under an agreement
specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 25390.4.
The expenditures from the fund for purposes of this paragraph shall
not exceed 5 percent of the total amount appropriated from the fund
in the annual Budget Act for purposes of this subdivision for that
fiscal year.
   (4) To pay the portion of costs attributable to the orphan share
incurred by the department and the regional boards to oversee actions
of potentially responsible parties, unless those costs are paid by a
potentially responsible party under an agreement specified in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 25390.4.
   (d) If an appropriation from the General Fund is made to the fund
in any fiscal year and an amount greater than five million dollars
($5,000,000) in unexpended funds, beyond any amount approved by the
administrator of the fund to pay claims pursuant to this article from
that General Fund appropriation, remain in the fund at the end of
that fiscal year, and if the department determines that additional
funding for orphan sites beyond that appropriated from the Toxic
Substances Control Account is required for the next fiscal year, the
administrator may expend the amount in excess of five million dollars
($5,000,000) from the General Fund appropriation to pay for response
costs incurred by the department or the regional boards under this
chapter at sites listed pursuant to Section 25356 where no viable
responsible parties exist.
   25390.4.  (a) A potentially responsible party may file a claim
pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 25390.3 only
if all of the following apply:
   (1) The site is listed pursuant to Section 25356.
   (2) The department or the regional board has approved a final
remedy for the site under Section 25356.1.
   (3) The department and the potentially responsible party have
entered into a written, enforceable cleanup agreement or order
embodied in a consent order issued pursuant to Section 25355.5 or
25358.3, or the regional board and the potentially responsible party
have entered into a written, enforceable cleanup agreement or order
that provides for the completion of all response actions necessary at
the site, conducted pursuant to this chapter and under the oversight
and at the direction of the department or the regional board.  The
agreement shall provide for the payment by the potentially
responsible party of the department's or the regional board's
response costs.
   (4) The potentially responsible party demonstrates, and the
department or the regional board finds, that the potentially
responsible party has and will have sufficient financial resources to
complete all required response actions.
   (5) The potentially responsible party is in compliance with the
agreement provided in paragraph (3), and with any other applicable
order or agreement pertaining to the potentially responsible party's
obligations with respect to the site.
   (6) The potentially responsible party has prepared and provided
the information required under subdivision (b) of Section 25390.5.
   (7) The claim for reimbursement is for the costs incurred for
response actions that were subject to the oversight and approval of
the department or the regional board.
   (b) The administrator of the fund shall prescribe appropriate
application forms and procedures for claims filed pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 25390.3 that shall
include all of the following:
   (1) Requirements that the claimant provide, at a minimum, all of
the following documentation:
   (A) A sworn verification of the claim to the best of the
information known to the claimant or within the claimant's possession
or control.
   (B) All records and information pertaining to the site and
relevant to the ownership, operation, or control of the site, or to
the ownership, possession, generation, treatment, transportation,
storage or disposal of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant at or in connection with the site, within the possession
or control of the claimant, including, but not limited to, the
information specified in subdivision (b) of Section 25358.1.
   (C) Certification of all response costs that have been, or will
be, incurred at the site by the potentially responsible party, and an
estimate of the total cost of completion of the approved final
remedy at the site.
   (2) Procedures specifying that claims shall be filed only at the
two following specific time periods during the performance of a
response action:
   (A) After the final remedy is selected under Section 25356.1.
   (B) After the department or the regional board determines that the
response action is complete.  The department or the regional board
shall not include operation and maintenance activities in determining
whether the response action is complete under this subparagraph.
   (c) The administrator of the fund shall annually, on a fiscal year
basis, pay claims for reimbursement from the fund filed by
potentially responsible parties under paragraph (1) of subdivision
(c) of Section 25390.3, in accordance with the following procedures:

   (1) Claims for funds available during each fiscal year shall be
filed with the administrator by July 30 of that fiscal year.
   (2) For sites with multiple responsible parties, all potentially
responsible parties that have entered into the cleanup agreement
specified in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 25390.4
shall file a single claim.
   (3) (A) The administrator shall allocate the money available in
the fund for the fiscal year among the claims filed by the July 30
deadline.  The allocation shall be based on the determination of the
orphan share percentage at the facility under the process set forth
in Section 25390.5, the long-term financial stability and short-term
resources available in the fund, and the administrator's fiduciary
duty with respect to the fund.  Except as provided in subparagraph
(B), the administrator shall pay claims for funds in the order in
which they are received.
   (B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), if an appropriation from the
General Fund is made to the fund in any fiscal year, the
administrator may alter the order of payment of claims required by
subparagraph (A) by using funds appropriated from the General Fund to
pay claims based on the threat to public health or the environment
posed by a site or the need to improve economic and environmental
conditions in redeveloping communities.
   (4) The total amount allocated to any one site shall not exceed 10
percent of the total amount available each fiscal year in the fund.
If, due to this limit or to the unavailability of funds, a claimant
receives only partial or no reimbursement of the orphan share paid to
be paid by that claimant, the claim shall be paid in the following
fiscal year and shall be given priority over all claims filed after
the claim was initially received, subject to the discretion of the
administrator set forth in paragraph (3).
   (5) The administrator's proposed allocation shall be subject to
public review and comment for 30 days.
   (d) The state and the fund have no obligation to provide full
reimbursement to a claimant.  The fund shall be allocated at the
discretion of the administrator, subject to the requirements of this
article.  In enacting this article, the Legislature intends that
claimants be reimbursed only to the extent that money is available in
the fund and is allocated to the claimant by the administrator.
   25390.5.  For the purposes of this article, the orphan share shall
be determined in the following manner:
   (a) The orphan share shall be expressed as a percentage in
multiples of five, up to, and, including, but not greater than, 75
percent.
   (b) The potentially responsible party filing a claim for
reimbursement of the orphan share shall provide the administrator of
the fund with a written potentially responsible party search report
that shall include a list of all potentially responsible parties
identified for the site, the factual and legal basis for identifying
those parties, and a proposed orphan share percentage.  The
potentially responsible party shall also provide the administrator
with the factual documentation necessary to support the proposed
orphan share percentage.
   (c) Upon receipt of the information required by subdivision (a),
the administrator of the fund shall invite all identified potentially
responsible parties and the department and the regional board to
submit any additional information relating to the proposed orphan
share percentage or to the list of identified potentially responsible
parties.
   (d) The administrator of the fund, in consultation with the
department or the regional board, shall determine a final orphan
share percentage based on the volume, toxicity, and difficulty of
removal of the contaminants contributed to the site by the party or
parties responsible for the orphan share.  The administrator shall
determine the orphan share timely and efficiently and is not required
to precisely determine all relevant factors, as long as the
determination is generally equitable.  In addition, the administrator
may consider the results of any apportionment or allocation
conducted by voluntary arbitration or mediation or by a civil action
filed by a potentially responsible party, or any other apportionment
or allocation decision that is helpful when determining the orphan
share percentage.
   (e) A potentially responsible party shall not assert, and the
administrator of the fund shall not determine, that the orphan share
percentage includes the share of liability attributable to a
potentially responsible party's acts that occurred before January 1,
1982, unless that share of responsibility is attributable to a person
who is defunct or insolvent.
   (f) In determining the orphan share percentage under this section,
the administrator of the fund may perform any of the activities
authorized in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 25358.1.
   (g) The administrator of the fund shall issue all orphan share
percentage determinations in writing, with notification to all
appropriate parties.  The decision of the administrator with respect
to either apportionment or payment of claims is a final agency action
for the purposes of judicial review of the decision by any party to
the proceedings resulting in the decision; however, judicial review
of the administrator's decision is limited to a showing of fraud by a
party submitting information under this subdivision.  The
administrator shall be represented by the Attorney General in any
action brought under this article.
   25390.6.  (a) Any costs paid from the fund pursuant to paragraphs
(1) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 25390.3 shall be
recoverable by the Attorney General, at the request of the
administrator of the fund, from any liable person or persons who have
not entered into, or are not in compliance with, a written cleanup
agreement entered into pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a)
of Section 25390.4 that provides for the completion of all response
actions necessary at the site under the oversight and at the
direction of the department or the regional board.
   (b) Any potentially responsible party who withholds information
required to be submitted under this section, or who submits false
information, is subject to a civil penalty of up to twenty-five
thousand dollars ($25,000) for each piece of information withheld or
for each piece of false information submitted.
   25390.7.  A claim for reimbursement under paragraph (1) of
subdivision (c) of Section 25390.3 shall not be filed for any of the
following:
   (a) Sites listed on the National Priorities List pursuant to the
federal act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9605(a)(8)(B)).
   (b) Sites remediated pursuant to Chapter 6.85 (commencing with
Section 25396).
   (c) Sites, or portions of sites, for which the potentially
responsible party has agreed to take all response action required by
the department or the regional board at the site, and that agreement
is embodied in a written, enforceable settlement agreement,
including, but not limited to, a judicial consent decree, entered
into prior to January 1, 1999.
   (d) Sites, or portions of sites, that have been fully remediated
for which the department or the regional board has determined that
the response action is complete prior to January 1, 1999.  The
department or the regional board shall not include operation and
maintenance activities in determining whether the response action is
complete under this section.
   25390.8.  (a) Any costs incurred and payable from the fund by the
administrator pursuant to this article shall constitute a claim and
lien upon the real property owned by a responsible party which is
subject to, or affected by, a response action.  A lien established by
this subdivision shall have all of the following properties:
   (1) The lien shall not exceed the increase in fair market value of
the site attributable to the response action at the time of a
subsequent sale or other disposition of the site.
   (2) The lien shall attach regardless of whether the responsible
party property owner is solvent.
   (3) The lien shall arise at the time costs to the fund are first
incurred by the administrator.
   (4) The lien shall be subject to the notice and hearing procedures
that due process of the law requires.
                         (b) Neither the administrator of the fund
nor the fund shall be considered a responsible party for a hazardous
substance release site because a claim and lien is imposed pursuant
to this section.
   (c) The lien imposed by this section shall have the force and
effect of, and the priority of, a judgment lien upon its recordation
in the county in which the property subject to the lien is located.
The lien shall contain the legal description of the property, the
assessor's parcel number, and the name of the owner of record, as
shown on the latest equalized assessment roll.  The lien shall also
contain a legal description of the property that is the site of the
hazardous substance release, the assessor's parcel number for that
property, and the name of the owner of record, as shown on the latest
equalized assessment roll, of that property.
   (d) All funds recovered pursuant to this subdivision shall be
deposited in the fund.
   25390.9.  (a) This article shall become operative on the operative
date of a statute that becomes operative on or after January 1,
2000, and does both of the following:
   (1) Creates a position in state government known as the
Administrator of the Orphan Share Reimbursement Trust Fund, and that
provides that the administrator shall be appointed by the Governor
and be subject to confirmation by the Senate.
   (2) Either appropriates funds to the fund to implement this
article, or establishes a revenue source for the fund, or both.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the operation of this article
shall be suspended during any fiscal year in which both no funds are
appropriated to the fund to implement this article and no revenue
source for the fund is operative.

      Article 8.  Private Site Management

   25395.1.  As used in this article, the following terms have the
following meaning:
   (a) "Private site manager" means an individual who is registered
as a class II environmental assessor pursuant to Section 25570.3.
   (b) "Private site management team" means a group coordinated by a
private site manager, which may consist of any or all of the
following persons:
   (1) A person holding a four-year bachelor of science degree from
an accredited college or university who has done significant work in
biological, chemical, physical, environmental or soil geology,
hydrology, hydrogeology, environmental health, environmental
engineering, toxicology, industrial hygiene, or a related field.
   (2) An environmental engineer holding a four-year bachelor of
science in engineering degree from an accredited college or
university.
   (3) An engineer registered in the State of California.
   (4) A geologist registered in the State of California.
   (5) A certified hydrogeologist registered in the State of
California.
   (6) A certified engineering geologist registered in the State of
California.
   (7) A geophysicist registered in the State of California.
   (8) An industrial hygienist or safety engineer registered in the
State of California.
   (9) A process engineer holding a four-year bachelor of science
degree in engineering from an accredited college or university.
   (10) A petroleum engineer holding a four-year bachelor of science
degree in engineering from an accredited college or university.
   (11) The necessary technical support personnel and equipment
operators, as determined by the private site manager.
   (c) "Project proponent" means any person who applies to the
department for approval to conduct the response to a release or
threatened release of hazardous substances pursuant to this article.

   (d) "Independent," as used in subdivision (b) of Section 25395.3,
means that the private site manager or the members of the private
site management team meet all of the following requirements:
   (1) The site manager or team member is not an employee of the
project proponent, a known responsible party, or a prospective buyer
of the site property.
   (2) The site manager or team member is not a general partner, or a
limited partner, with any project proponent, known responsible
party, or prospective buyer of the site property.
   (3) The site manager or team member is not a shareholder in the
project proponent entity, known responsible party, or a prospective
buyer of the site property.
   (4) The site manager or team member does not receive any source of
income from the project proponent, known responsible party, or a
prospective buyer of the site property, other than the payment of
fees for professional services.
   (5) The site manager or team member does not accept, or agree to
accept, any payment that is in any way contingent upon the completion
of a response action of the site as a private site management
project.
   25395.2.  A private site manager may conduct investigations of
potential hazardous substance release sites using preliminary
endangerment assessment procedures approved by the department.  If,
upon completion of an investigation, a private site manager
determines that because a significant release of hazardous substances
has not occurred, site conditions do not require any further
investigation or remedial action, the private site manager may submit
a report to the department certifying that no further action is
required at the site.  Unless the department issues a written notice
of disagreement to the private site manager within 60 days from the
date of receipt of the report, the department shall be deemed to be
in agreement with the report and shall designate the site as a site
which requires no further action.  The department may subsequently
change that site designation status upon receipt and confirmation of
evidence that the physical environment of the site conditions differ
from the findings of a report submitted by a private site manager.
The department shall not designate a site under this section as a
site that requires no further action if the release of hazardous
substances has caused, or threatens to cause, discharges to waters of
the state.
   25395.3.  If, upon completion of a site investigation, a private
site manager or the department determines that a significant release
of a hazardous substance has occurred, or is likely to have occurred,
a project proponent may submit an application to the department
requesting that a response action be conducted under private site
management pursuant to this article.  The application for a response
action shall include both of the following:
   (a) Where a site investigation was conducted by a private site
manager, the private site manager shall provide the department with a
report of the site findings based on the investigation.  In all
cases, the application shall set forth reasons why the site is
appropriate for a private response action and management based on the
information available at the time that the application is submitted
to the department.  Sites shall be deemed appropriate for private
site management if all the following conditions exist:
   (1) There is a substantial likelihood that no further significant
environmental damage or exposure to humans will occur as the response
action is implemented.
   (2) The site is not adjacent to residential property, as defined
in Section 1675 of the Civil Code, or a school, day care center for
children, or a hospital.
   (3) The site is not, or is not being used as, residential
property, as defined in Section 1675 of the Civil Code, or a school,
day care center for children, or a hospital.
   (4) Releases of hazardous substances at the site did not result in
discharges to groundwater.
   (5) An enforceable agreement that specifies how response action
will be conducted is not applicable to the site.
   (b) The name and a statement of qualifications of any private site
manager proposed for the site.  The proposed private site manager
shall be independent of the project proponent, all known responsible
parties, and prospective buyers of the site property.
   25395.4.  (a) If the department approves an application for
private site management, a private site management team shall be
designated to perform the activities authorized by this article.  The
professional staff of the private site management team shall be
comprised, at a minimum, of persons with qualifications and levels of
experience which shall be specified by the department based upon the
conditions at the site which require response action.
   (b) At least one member of the proposed team shall have
demonstrable experience or training in public participation, risk
communication, and community involvement, except that the member
shall not be required to be a registered or certified professional.
Each member of the proposed team shall be independent of the project
proponent, known responsible parties, and prospective buyers of the
site property.
   (c) If, at any time, the documented physical conditions at the
site change or physical conditions previously unknown to the
department are identified, the department may rescind approval of the
proposed project or may require the private site management team to
include additional professional staff members with expertise
appropriate to the physical conditions at the site.  The addition of
new professional level team members proposed by the private site
manager shall be approved by the department, but the department shall
not unreasonably withhold that approval.
   25395.5.  (a) If the private site management team determines that
the response action will include a removal or remedial action, the
approved private site management team shall prepare a draft removal
action work plan or remedial action plan.  The draft removal action
work plan or remedial action plan may be prepared without oversight
by the department, but shall be prepared in accordance with all of
the requirements of this chapter, or Chapter 6.85 (commencing with
Section 25396) in the case of sites selected pursuant to Section
25396.6, and other applicable regulations and guidance documents
adopted or issued by the department.
   (b) The private site management team shall submit the draft
removal action work plan or remedial action plan to the department
for approval, and the department shall approve or reject the work
plan or remedial action plan within 60 days from the date of
submittal by a private site manager.  If a plan is rejected, the
department shall identify the principal reasons for the rejection,
and shall describe the actions needed to adequately address
deficiencies in the plan.
   25395.6.  (a) The private site management team shall, in the case
of sites selected pursuant to Section 25396.6, prepare a remedial
design for the implementation of the response action that is selected
in the final remedial action plan that is prepared and approved in
accordance with the requirements of this chapter, or Chapter 6.85
(commencing with Section 25396), and applicable regulations and
guidance documents adopted or issued by the department.  The remedial
design may be prepared by the private site management team without
oversight by the department, and shall be submitted to the department
for approval.
   (b) The department shall approve or reject a final remedial design
within 60 days from the date of submittal by a private site
management team.  If a design is rejected, the department shall
identify the principal reasons for the rejection, and shall describe
the actions needed to adequately address deficiencies in the design.

   25395.7.  The private site management team shall implement the
response action set forth in the approved final removal action work
plan or remedial action plan and remedial design.  The implementation
of the response action may be conducted without oversight by the
department.
   25395.8.  (a) Upon completion of a response action, the private
site manager shall file a request for a certificate of completion
from the department.  The request for a certificate of completion
submitted by a private site manager shall include all of the
information required by the department, and, at a minimum, shall
include all of the following additional information:
   (1) A summary of all response action taken.
   (2) All sample results for a certified laboratory confirming that
the site has been fully remediated as required by the final removal
action work plan or remedial action plan and in accordance with the
remedial design approved by the department.
   (b) In addition, the department may require submittal of any or
all of the following documentation:
   (1) A north-south and east-west cross section of the site geology,
that is signed by a geologist, geophysicist, engineering geologist,
or hydrogeologist who is registered in the State of California, and
that evaluates the hydrogeologic conditions of the site.
   (2) Horizontal and vertical surveys of all wells, caps, and
facilities that are required by the final removal action work plan or
final remedial action plan approved by the department.
   (3) As-built drawings of any physical construction that is
required by the removal action work plan or remedial action plan
approved by the department, and that is signed by an engineer
registered in the State of California.
   (4) Copies of land use controls that are  required by the removal
action work plan or remedial action plan approved by the department,
and that have been recorded by the county recorder in the county in
which the site is located.
   (5) A plan for the implementation of any operation and maintenance
measures that are required by the final removal action work plan or
remedial action plan approved by the department.
   (c) The department shall review the request for a certificate of
completion, and shall approve or reject a request for certificate of
completion within 30 days from the date of submittal by the private
site manager.  If a request is rejected, the department shall
identify the principal reasons for the rejection and describe the
actions needed to amend the application to adequately address the
deficiencies that are identified by the department.
   (d) If the department approves the request for a certificate of
completion, it shall prepare a certification which shall include a
certificate of completion, requirements for ongoing reporting and
operation and maintenance, and a description of applicable land use
controls of a site.  The certification shall be provided to the
project proponent, all known responsible parties, owners of
properties located adjacent to the site, and shall be made available
to the public.
   25395.9.  No designated officer or employee of the California
Environmental Protection Agency or its constituent boards,
departments, or offices shall serve as a private site manager or
member of a private site management team for the first 12 months
following the termination of the officer's or employee's appointment
or employment with the agency, constituent board, department, or
office.
   25395.10.  (a) The private site manager and each member of a
private site management team shall sign and certify all work
performed by, and or directed by, that person.
   (b) The private site manager and each member of the professional
staff of the private site management team shall have appropriate
insurance as required by the department.
   25395.11.  Except as otherwise specified in this article, all the
requirements of this chapter, or Chapter 6.85 (commencing with
Section 25396) in the case of sites selected pursuant to Section
25396.6, and any other applicable regulation and guidance document or
manual adopted or issued by the department, shall apply to sites
approved for private site management.  The requirements of Division
13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code shall
apply to response actions conducted pursuant to this article in the
same manner, and to the same extent, that the requirements apply to
response actions otherwise conducted pursuant to this chapter or
Chapter 6.85 (commencing with Section 25396).  If, at any time, the
department finds that a private site manager or a private site
management team is not in compliance with the requirements of this
chapter or Chapter 6.85 (commencing with Section 25396), the
department may, pursuant to this article, withdraw its approval for
the conduct of a response action on the site.
   25395.12.  (a) The department shall conduct audits of a minimum of
25 percent of the sites where a private site manager or private site
management team has conducted a site investigation or response
action without oversight by the department, except with respect to
cases where oversight is otherwise required under this article, and
where the department has issued a certificate of completion.
   (b) A private site manager and any member of a private site
management team shall provide an authorized representative of the
department with complete access, at any reasonable hour of the day,
to all technical data, reports, records, environmental samples,
photographs, maps, and files that are materially related to a
response action conducted pursuant to this article.
   (c) In any case where the department's audit finds that the
performance of a private site manager or a member of a private site
management team fails to meet the minimum standards of performance
adopted pursuant to Section 25395.15, the department shall send the
results of the audit to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment.
   25395.13.  (a) Any private site manager or member of a private
site management team who commits any of the following acts shall be
punished, upon conviction, by a fine of not less than two thousand
dollars ($2,000) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more
than one year, or both that fine and imprisonment, if the private
site manager or any member of a private site management team does any
of the following:
   (1) Knowingly makes any materially false or inaccurate statement
in any application, record, report, certification, plan, design, or
statement that the private site manager or the private site
management team submits to the department.
   (2) Knowingly makes any materially false or inaccurate statement
in any record, report, plan, file, log, or register that the private
site management team keeps, or is required to keep, pursuant to any
law.
   (3) Knowingly and materially falsifies, tampers with, alters,
destroys, or disturbs any mechanism, recovery, or control system, or
any monitoring device or method that the private site manager or the
private site management team maintains, or that is required to be
maintained pursuant to any law, regulation, or order for the
protection of the public health and safety or the environment.
   (4) Knowingly allows or orders any of the private site manager's
or the private site management team's employees, agents, or
contractors to do any of the actions specified in paragraphs (1) to
(3), inclusive.
   (b) Any private site manager or member of a site private
management team who knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the
risk, treats, handles, transports, disposes of, or stores any
hazardous substance in a manner that causes any unreasonable risk of
fire, explosion, serious injury, or death, is guilty of a public
offense and shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less
than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor more than two hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000) for each day of a violation, by
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, by
imprisonment in the state prison for 16, 24, or 36 months, or by both
that fine and imprisonment.
   (c) Any private site manager or member of a private site
management team who knowingly, at the time the manager or member
takes any of the actions specified in subdivision (b), places another
person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury, is
guilty of a public offense and shall, upon conviction, be punished by
a fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) or more than
two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) for each day of the
violation.
   (d) Each day that a violation of subdivision (a) occurs, or
continues to occur, shall be considered a separate offense.  A fine
imposed pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not exceed, in the
aggregate, twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000), and the term of
imprisonment shall not exceed, in the aggregate, one year.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, all penalties
collected pursuant to this section shall be transferred to the
department for deposit in the trust fund for expenditure by the
department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer and
enforce this article.
   25395.14.  The project proponent for a site subject to response
action pursuant to this article shall fully reimburse the department
for all reasonable costs incurred by the department, including those
costs associated with the department's involvement in the
investigation, remediation, certification, and audit process at that
site.  Any of the reasonable costs that are incurred by the
department which relate to the specific project costs, and that are
not reimbursed by the project proponent shall be recovered from the
responsible parties pursuant to Section 25360.
   25395.15.  The department shall, in consultation with the Office
of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, adopt minimum standards of
performance that shall apply to the activities and conduct of
private site managers and members of private site management teams
that conduct response actions pursuant to this article.  The
standards shall be consistent with the requirements of this article
and with generally accepted professional standards that apply to
persons who engage in the types of work that are required to conduct
hazardous substance release response actions pursuant to this
chapter.  The minimum standards of performance shall be adopted as
expeditiously as possible, but not later than six months from the
date that the department first begins accepting applications pursuant
to Section 25395.3.
  SEC. 3.  (a) Notwithstanding the repeal of Chapter 6.8 (commencing
with Section 25300) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code by
operation of Section 25395 of the Health and Safety Code, as that
section read on December 31, 1998, or by Section 1 of this act, any
action taken pursuant to that chapter by any city, county, or city
and county, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, a California
regional water quality control board, or any other state or local
agency, shall remain in effect on and after January 1, 1999, and be
subject to Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20
of the Health and Safety Code, as added by Section 2 of this act.
   (b) The repeal of portions of Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section
25300) of Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, by operation of
Section 25395 of the Health and Safety Code, as that section read on
December 31, 1998, and the repeal and reenactment of Chapter 6.8
(commencing with Section 25300) of Division 20 of the Health and
Safety Code by Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall not terminate,
affect, or modify any proceeding, order, or agreement issued or
entered into by any city, county, or city and county, the Department
of Toxic Substances Control, a California regional water quality
control board, or any other state or local agency, or any rights or
obligations arising out of any bond issue, pursuant to those
provisions, and notwithstanding the effective date of this act, the
provisions of Chapter 6.8 (commencing with Section 25300) of Division
20 of the Health and Safety Code, as added by Section 2 of this act,
shall apply retroactively, on and after January 1, 1999, to those
proceedings, orders, agreements, or bonds.
   (c) Funds expended by the Department of Toxic Substances Control
to pay the costs of carrying out actions to remove hazardous
substances from sites of illegal drug laboratories during the period
from January 1, 1999, until the effective date of this act, shall be
paid from the appropriation made by Item 3960-001-0065 of the Budget
Act of 1998.  The amount of any expenditures made by the department
from Item 3960-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 1998 for removal actions
at illegal drug laboratory sites during the period from January 1,
1999, until the effective date of this act, shall be transferred from
Item 3960-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 1998 to Item 3960-001-0065
of the Budget Act of 1998 to pay the costs of those removal actions
following the submission of a notice by the Department of Toxic
Substances Control, and approval by the Department of Finance
pursuant to Section 27.00 of the Budget Act of 1998.  As the result
of this transfer, the department shall not have expended any funds
appropriated by Item 3960-001-0001 for the purposes specified in this
subdivision.
  SEC. 4.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the
only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.
  SEC. 5.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect.  The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to continue the state's Hazardous Substance Cleanup
Program thereby protecting public health and safety and the
environment, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
